


I’ll Rearrange The Stars For You

by Ashleyparker2815



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Bed-Wetting, Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Peter Parker, Morgan is 9, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark are Siblings (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter is 5, Peter wants all of Tony’s attention, Post-Endgame, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Sharing a Bed, Temper Tantrums, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:41:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 90,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23970235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleyparker2815/pseuds/Ashleyparker2815
Summary: It has been ten years since the snap. Tony and Pepper had a daughter, Morgan, but Tony always felt like he was missing someone which was his other child, Peter. When Tony gets the chance to bring back his kid, he jumps at it and will do anything to get Peter back. The only thing is that all those who have been dusted, come back ten years younger.Now Tony and Pepper have to learn to live life with a five year old boy and a nine year old girl.
Relationships: Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 352
Kudos: 620





	1. As long as I got you

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii guys!! I’m here with a new fic:) I’m absolutely in love with this fic and I can’t stop writing it! I’ve been writing it nonstop. So I just want to point out that this is an Endgame AU and it’s the first time I’m writing Morgan which is actually a lot of fun. 
> 
> I know Peter was 16/17 when he was dusted but for this fic I’m making him 15 when he dusted which means he is 5 now. Morgan is 9 years old. 
> 
> I was thinking about it and I think everyone who was 10 years old and younger who got dusted, they would not be coming back simply because they wouldn’t have been born yet so sorry to lose under 10 year old kids. Also so for example someone Peter went to school with, if they didn’t get dusted then they would be 20 years older than him. Isn’t that crazy? Andddd I’m pretty sure there would be kids older than some parents, I’m trying to think of that scenario... 
> 
> But I want to give a huge huge HUGE thank you to my friend Gabby. My original idea was for Peter be to 10 years old but that’s no fun. It was her idea to have Peter as a five year old so this is all her idea so THANK UUUUU soooo much Gabby. Gabbyd193 ahhh I’m so excited!!

Tony didn’t know what he was expecting to happen. 

He wasn’t sure if the snap that almost killed Bruce had worked or not. 

He wished so badly with everything that he had that it worked but he was used to disappointments by now. He came onto this not knowing if it would work but he hoped for the best and expected the worst. 

The worst being having to go back to his life before. He was happy, he was more than happy but something always felt missing. Someone always felt missing. 

Sure he had Pepper and now he had his daughter, but he didn’t have Peter. 

The boy who he came to think of as a son in the short short amount of time that the two knew each other and then had to watch his child die in his arms. 

Pepper knew Peter’s dusting had hit him hard. Hard was an understatement. 

She saw first hand how badly Peter’s death had hit him and he tried so hard to be better. He wanted to be better and move on but it was impossible even for Iron Man. Who couldn’t protect his child. He couldn’t save him. 

So they moved to the cabin by the lake and started the simple life. 

Tony trashed all his suits but he couldn’t stop himself from going down to the lab and tinkering away like he used to all the time back in the tower. 

Tony and Pepper had a baby girl and that helped to take his mind off of what his life used to be like before the snap. Things were good for the most part. 

Tony still had bad days but that was expected. He was mourning the loss of his kid for longer than he even knew him. 

That’s why, ten years later when Tony had the chance to reverse the snap and bring everyone back, he jumped at it. 

There was a lot to risk but all of that was worth it even if it gave him the slightest chance to see his kid again. 

Even one last time. 

What Tony was not expecting was for it to actually work. He had thought about the chances of it working and him getting to see his kid but it all still felt unreal. 

For the past ten years he mourned the loss of a child that he thought he was never going to see again but now here he was, possibly minutes away from seeing his kid. 

Tony was only half focused on the battle. All he could think about was the fact that he had a kid out there and Peter could be in danger. 

Everything was going to hell and Tony was flying up above most of the battle to try and look for Peter while also killing off some of Thanos’ army in the process. 

Tony spotted Sam, the first person to see that got dusted so he got down to him and landed right in front of him, shooting off a Squidward looking creature in the process. “Sam!” 

Sam stopped and looked at Tony before pulling him into an uncomfortable hug. “Dude. What the fuck is happening?!” 

Tony pulled away and looked at him. He looked different. Younger. A lot younger, as if Sam had a younger brother and Tony was talking to him. 

Tony just figured that he hadn’t seen the man in ten years so he was the old one. He knew he looked noticeably older. 

They didn’t have time to talk to each other because there were explosions going off all around the two of them so they both went off in separate directions. Tony kept his eyes out for Peter but he still couldn’t see his kid. 

It was when Tony spotted Dr Strange that he landed right in front of the man and looked wildly around for Peter. They were together when the snap happened so maybe Peter stayed close to the man. 

“Strange! Where’s Peter?” Tony asked, desperately. 

Strange was using his magic to keep the explosions away from him and Tony as he answered. “The Spider-Man?” 

“Spider-Man, yes. Where is he?” Tony shifted on his feet so he could stand directly in front of Stephen. He also noticed that he looked different and maybe if his mind wasn’t so focused on where Peter was then he would have connected the dots but he didn’t. 

“Tony. Something’s wrong.” Stephen looked at him with this look on his that held so much regret. 

Tony felt his heart speed up. Bruce’s snap had worked. Why would Stephen say that? Before anyone else could speak, part of Thanos’ army came charging at them so Tony flew above to rain down on them until there was no one left but Stephen standing right under him. 

It didn’t look like they were winning but it also didn’t look like they were losing. Tony landed on the ground on some rubble and took a few steps forward. 

It had been quite a long time and he’s seen everyone but Peter. 

He wouldn’t be so scared if Strange hadn’t told him that something was wrong. Of course something had to go wrong because the universe just had to keep making him suffer. 

Just then, Tony heard what he thought he would never hear again. 

“Mr. Stark.” 

The voice sounded small and scared but Tony knew that voice. That voice belonged to his kid. He turned around so quickly that he was sure he got whiplash but when he turned around, he didn’t see his kid. 

“Peter? It’s me.” Tony said and started walking forwards but so much was happening all around them so it was hard to listen to his kids voice. 

Tony remembered how scared Peter was back on Titan before he turned to dust so Tony could only imagine how scared Peter would be now and he needed to protect him. “Peter!” 

“Mr. Stark! I don- I don’t know what happened to me.” Came Peter’s voice but something was off about it. Tony knew that Peter always had a higher pitched voice but this was… childish. 

“Pete, where are you?” Tony rushed over the pile of concrete and rubble and then spotted what he waited ten years to see. Peter. 

The kid was standing at the bottle of the pile of rubble and looking up at Tony but as soon as Tony laid his eyes on him, he could see that something was wrong. 

He thought back to what Stephen said but pushed that to the back of his mind. He stumbled clumsy down the rubble and stopped just in front of Peter. 

Peter was looking up at Tony with his wide brown eyes but this wasn’t his Peter. This was an actual child. Tony kneeled down in his Iron Man suit that Peter barely reached up to his knees when standing in it so he kneeled down and looked at his kid. 

“Peter?” Tony said, unbelieving. This couldn’t be his kid, Peter was a fifteen year old that didn’t require Tony to kneel down to be at his height. 

Peter nodded his head and Tony saw his bottom lip tremble. “I-I woke up and you were gone but Mr. Dr Strange was there and he said I gotta come with him but-but something's wrong.” 

Tony didn’t listen to him anymore. He reached forward and pulled Peter against his chest, wrapping his arms around his delicate frame. 

It had been too long. Way too long. 

When Tony pulled away, he looked at Peter’s face. He definitely wasn’t fifteen years old. From Tony’s knowledge of children from having one daughter, he would say Peter is anywhere between four and six. 

Tony cupped his cheek and it was as if the whole world disappeared around them. They were the only two that mattered in that moment. 

Peter leaned against his touch and closed his eyes then Tony looked down at the rest of his body and saw how tiny he was. 

His suit had shrunk down with him and Tony could only assume that his spandex suit that he was wearing underneath shrunk down as well and whatever was under that. 

He looked back up at Peter’s face and gave him a reassuring smile before he pressed the small button on his mask that only worked for him, and Peter. The mask closed around his face and Tony stood up. 

He closed his own mask as well and looked down at Peter who was still looking up at him. “I have to get you out of here.” 

Tony started walking just to see where he was going to take Peter. The whole Compound was a battlefield and there was no place safe. 

“Mr. Stark? What’s happening?” Peter asked and tried to follow Tony up the rubble pile where he came from but he was having a hard time catching his balance and he felt extremely weak. 

Tony didn’t answer him so he got to his side and tapped his suit leg. That was what the problem was. Peter knew he was supposed to be tapping against his arm, not his leg but he couldn’t reach Tony's arms from all the way down there. 

Tony didn’t have many choices. The whole Compound was destroyed so it’s not like he could just bring Peter to the Compound and keep him there. 

He turned around to look down at Peter and then held his hand out for him. “I’m picking you up and taking you somewhere until this is all over.” 

Tony picked Peter up and flew into the air. He couldn’t have Peter die after everything he did to bring him back. 

“No, Mr. Stark. Let me help! I can help!” Peter squirmed in his arms but Tony only held him tighter. He knew Peter’s suit would keep him from getting crushed. 

“Peter, you barely reach my kneecap. I don’t know what the hell is going on but something isn’t right so until then, you are not staying here.” Tony told him as he flew above everything. He knew he could fly Peter back to the cabin where Morgan and Happy were and stay there, away from everything but he couldn’t do that. 

He had to finish what he started. 

“Please. Let me help. We’re in this together, remember?” Peter tried to say but his voice sounded wrong. “Mr. Stark. Please. Let me help!” 

Tony landed on the other side of the lake, away from the battle. He placed Peter on his feet and kneeled down in front of him again. “Peter, buddy. I need you to stay safe. I-I can’t lose you again, okay? Please.” 

Peter reached for him before dropping his arms to his side. “You’re leaving me! We’re supposed to fight together.” 

Tony nodded. “I know but not this time.” 

“Please. Tony. Please let me help.” Peter’s voice shook and Tony hated hearing that. Especially since he was so small and breakable. He looked at his kid, he couldn’t see his face since it was hidden behind the mask and maybe that was for the better because that was the first time he heard Peter call him Tony. 

“I’m sorry.” Tony went to stand up but he paused. “He couldn’t leave without Peter knowing what he failed to say to him so many times. “I love you, kid. I need you to know that.” 

Peter froze and then nodded his head. “I-I love you too, Mr. Stark.” 

With that, Tony stood up and flew away, leaving Peter alone. 

Peter hated that he felt like breaking down and crying. 

He opened his face mask and looked in the direction where Tony flew to. He could still make out the Iron Man flying in the air and back into battle. 

He hated that because he needed to be there with Tony and fighting by his side but instead he was stranded near the edge of a forest. 

Peter sat down on the grass and looked at his hands. They were extremely tiny even underneath the Iron Spider suit. He examined them closely but then he caught sight of his legs and shifted them a bit on the grass, seeing how short they were. 

Peter let out a puff of air and looked in front of him at all the smoke and dust. He could see and hear what was going on and it was even more terrifying than being in the middle of the battle since he wasn’t sure what was going on and if Tony was alive or not. 

The thought of Tony dying had him letting out a small whimper. 

He turned away from the battlefield and looked in the direction of the forest so he didn’t look at it. He felt his thumb travel up to his mouth but he quickly stopped himself. What the hell. He hadn’t sucked his thumb in years. 

Not thinking too much of it, Peter focused on other things. The last thing he remembered was that he was on Titan with Tony but then he turned to dust and Tony didn’t. 

Peter wondered where his Aunt May was. Did she turn to dust with him? If she did turn to dust then Peter wondered where she was, maybe she was running around and looking for him. 

But if she didn’t turn to dust then she was probably worried sick wondering what happened to him. Either way he had to see her. 

Peter then thought about Pepper. He hadn’t seen her on the battlefield but he knew that she had to have been there, right? If he was and Tony was then she had to have too. 

And Ned? There were so many questions that he had but no one to answer them for him. 

Peter heard a lot of gunshots going off so he turned around to see a huge explosion blow up in the sky. It was definitely the big bad guys ship but someone was flying through it. 

He hoped that wasn’t Tony. It couldn’t be him because that was way too dangerous. Peter watched on with wide eyes and stood up in the process to try and see more but he couldn’t. 

Peter wanted to know what was going on but he couldn’t see anything and all he heard was telling him that he needed to be there so he could do something but instead he was stranded. 

All of the sudden, there was a white bright light lighting up the sky, Peter turned away from it because it hurt to look at and as soon as it came, it was gone. 

Everything went silent in an instant. 

Peter could feel something was wrong, more like an uneasy feeling but he didn’t like it. 

Peter wasn’t sure how long he waited for but it felt like way too long before he saw something flying towards him. 

He squinted his eyes and watched the figure fly towards him and when he saw that it was Iron Man, he felt tears burn his eyes. He wanted Tony to hold him and just tell him that everything was going to be okay. 

Peter found himself reaching up for the man but then stopped himself. He didn’t know why he was doing that. 

Tony landed with a thud and immediately stepped out of his suit. Peter stepped towards him and reached his arms out for Tony to pull him into his arms again once he kneeled down to be at his height level. 

“Hey, Pete. Everything’s gonna be okay. I’ve got you.” Tony buried his face into Peter’s soft curls, noticing that he had a lot more than he was used to. 

“I was so scared.” Peter admitted in a small voice and hugged Tony back. 

“I know. I know. It’s okay now.” Tony reassured the child. His child. 

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, both of them enjoying each other’s company until Tony was pulling away and cupping Peter’s very chubby cheek. 

“I’m gonna pick you back up and we’re gonna go back, okay? I promise you it’s safe now and I’m never gonna let anything bad happen to you ever again.” Tony promised his kid and he knew he could keep that promise. 

Peter nodded his head just as Tony pressed his face mask to cover his face then he was stepping into his suit and lifting Peter back into his arms. 

Peter clung tightly onto Tony as they flew through the air. He trusted Tony and knew that he wasn’t going to be dropped but he was content to be in the man’s arms even if there were three suits between the two. 

Once Tony landed, he placed Peter back on the ground of the battlefield but there weren’t anymore aliens attacking them or gunshots going off. 

Peter resisted the urge to grab onto Tony’s leg as he walked but he stopped himself. That was weird. 

Tony kept walking towards where everyone had gathered around. Some were hugging, some were cheering and others were talking to each other with a serious look on their faces. 

“We did it!” Tony announced but then everyone stopped and turned to look at him with concern on their faces. Tony subconsciously pulled the small child closer to himself but he couldn’t put his arms around his shoulders anymore so he gently grabbed him by the head. “What?” 

Pepper rushed towards him. She kept glancing down at Peter but he settled for staring at Tony’s face. Tony felt his heart speed up once again. She was looking at him with so much concern and he hated that. 

“Pep? What is it?” He asked, now scared of the answer. 

She sighed and cupped his face. “Oh Tony. Your face… you…” 

Pepper trailed off and Tony brought a hand up to touch his face. Then Stephen Strange was walking towards him with that same look on his face from before. 

“Stark. Everyone that got dusted came back ten years younger,” Strange explained and then glanced down at Peter who was half hiding behind Tony’s legs. “as you know. It’s not noticeable for everyone else because they were already adults but the kid was only fifteen so now… well now he’s five.” 

Tony stared at Stephen for a few seconds. He knew that. Obviously but it was really starting to click for him now. First Sam then Stephen and then the fact that Peter is the size of a literal baby. 

He could tell there was something else. “What else you not telling me?” 

Pepper looked away as the wizard started speaking. “Stark, when you took the infinity stones from Thanos and did the snap, it aged you back ten years as well.” 

Tony didn’t understand. He was ten years younger now? Then how come Bruce didn’t age down ten years as well? It made no sense. 

He turned to Pepper. “Pep? Am I…” 

Pepper nodded her head and gave Tony a weak smile. “Yeah. You are. Now I’m the older one.” 

Tony smiled weakly at her. Now she was six years older than him. Not that it mattered or would change anything but it was just… strange. 

She glanced down at Peter and then up and Tony. He nodded his head so she kneeled down and looked at him. 

Peter removed the face mask so she could look at him and then Pepper smiled and covered her hand over her mouth. “Oh. Look at you.” 

“Hi Pepper.” Peter smiled at her. 

She removed her own hand from her face to cup his cheek like Tony had done to him and Peter found himself leaning into the touch once again, dying for some physical comfort that wasn’t through suits. 

“You’re so young. Oh my god.” Pepper half said to herself. 

Peter didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what he looked like but he knew it was a huge difference. He looked up at Tony, silently asking him to do something and he must have gotten the hint because he started to speak. 

“Alright! Listen up! Until we can figure out what to do next, there is another Avengers facility about twenty minutes from here. We’ll all go there and take care of injuries and count casualties while we figure out what the hell to do next.” Tony ordered everyone who could hear him. The rest would pick up on it and meet them there. 

They had a lot to take care of but the most important thing in that moment was that he had his kid back and in his arms once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked the first chapter:) I always hate my first chapters so idkkk how to feel about this so I’m gonna post the second chapter on Monday, idkkk what day it is today tbh
> 
> So yeaaa Tony did the snap and instead of him dying and burning his arm and face off, he just aged back ten years as well. I did this just because he lived 10 years without Peter and those years definitely weren’t nice to him for the most part so he would act and look old old and I don’t want that for Peter so he gets to go back to his young self. Plus he’s gonna need that for looking after his new five year old wild boy


	2. You’re something beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys! I hope everyone is keeping safe. I absolutely love this chapter so much so I hope you guys do too:)

Tony didn’t know what was going to happen next. 

Everything in that moment seemed so uncertain to him, how they were going to figure out if there were any casualties during the fight and take care of the injured then get everyone back home where they wanted to be, how they were going to clean up and rebuild the Compound, the fact that everyone who got dusted is now back on earth. 

Parents who got dusted but their young children did not so now the parents have to deal with that, wife’s and husbands who have moved on, loss of jobs and so much more but that wasn’t any of Tony’s concern. 

He had his kid back and that was all he could focus on. After ten freaking years of mourning and wishing so badly to have his kid back in his arms again, he finally did. 

Even though Peter was a five year old instead of his fifteen year old self, that was okay. That was more than okay. They could make that work together. 

Once they got to the Avengers facility, Tony and Pepper took Peter and led him into a more private room so it was just the three of them. 

Both adults stepped out of their suit and went to guide Peter over to some chairs. They both sat down as Peter stood in front of them, his eyes glued on Tony. 

“I’m gonna take your Iron Spider suit off.” Tony told him and then pressed the finger scanner then the suit was going back into it’s nanotech form, leaving Peter in his spandex suit. That shrunk down with him as well which made it look like Peter was wearing a Spider-Man Halloween costume. 

Tony pressed the spider in the middle of his suit that also only worked on his hand and Peter’s. 

It fell off of Peter’s small frame, going back to its original size. The underwear that Peter was wearing underneath didn’t shrink down due to the fact that it wasn’t Stark tech underwear. 

Peter caught it before it fell down anymore and exposed anything then he looked up at Tony with a blush on his face. “Um… can I have some um, clothes or something, please?” 

Tony was going to stand up but Pepper got up before him and moved around the room to try and look for something. There wasn’t anything to give Peter. It’s not like there was a stack of five year old boy clothing sitting there. 

She came back over with a throw blanket and sat back down. “Just until we can get you some more clothes.” 

Peter watched her pull one of her hair elastics out of her hair and hand it to him. “This is to tie up your underwear so it doesn’t fall off.” She explained and handed him the electric but Peter hesitated. 

“Um, can you maybe tie it?” Peter asked, embarrassed that he had to ask his father figures fiancé to tie his underwear for him. Pepper tied it no problem and then wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. 

“Thanks.” Peter shifted a bit, feeling really uncomfortable because he wanted so badly to cry and to throw himself into Tony’s arms and be rocked but he didn’t know why. 

Tony was looking at him the whole time with almost a sad yet happy look in his eye. He reached out and ran his fingers through his hair. “I missed you, kid. So much.” 

Peter smiled weakly up at him. “I missed you too.” 

Tony knew it was only ten hours for Peter. Peter was without him for ten hours but he was without Peter for ten years so he wasn’t going to argue with the child about who missed who more but he was sure he would win. 

Tony then looked down. He had so much to tell Peter. Some good and some bad. 

“Look, bud,” Tony began. Pepper reached out and grabbed his hand for support. “a lot has happened since you… since you’ve been Uh, gone.” 

Peter nodded, having assumed as much. 

Tony continued. “So, a little after everything happened and I got back down to earth, Pep and I-” 

Peter cut him off. “Wait. What do you mean after you got back down to earth? How long were you stuck in space for?” 

It was so weird to listen to Peter speak like a fifteen year old but look and sound like a five year old. It was almost scary. 

“It doesn’t matter anymore-” 

“No. Tell me. You have to tell me.” Peter begged him and Tony was somewhat disappointed that Peter still had his persistence and stubbornness in him. 

Tony sighed. “Peter.” 

“Tell me!” Peter demanded and started jumping up and down exactly like Morgan used to do when she was younger and both Pepper and him stared at Peter in awe. 

Peter must have realized what he was doing because he immediately stopped and his face turned red then he was tugging the blanket more around himself. 

“It was three months. But I’m okay now and everything is okay.” Tony saw the colour drain from Peter’s face so he tried to reassure him. “It’s okay, bud. See.” 

Peter reached for him a bit so Tony took his tiny hands in his and Tony could see his eyes watering a bit. “Bud, everything is okay. Hey guess what?” 

Peter looked up at him with curious eyes. “What?” 

“Well,” Tony smiled and looked at Pepper. “a little after that, we decided to move away to get away from everything so we moved to a cabin in the woods by the lake and we got married.” 

Tony didn’t know how Peter would react to that. He knew how badly Peter wanted to come to the wedding and how much he was looking forward to it and Peter’s reaction was basically how he would have expected even teen Peter to react. 

“But-but I wanted to come to the wedding. You said I could.” Peter cried out but there weren’t any tears yet. He hoped it didn’t get that far. 

“Peter, it’s okay. It wasn’t that fun without you anyways.” Pepper said to him and Peter looked up at her then scrunched his face up. 

“No. I ruined your wedding!” Peter yelled and threw his face into the space between the two adults but then he realized how he was acting and lifted his head up. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay. You didn’t ruin anything, bud. I promise you.” Tony said to him and cupped his cheek again. “But we need to tell you something else.” 

Peter looked between the two of them. “What is it?” 

“We have a kid.” Tony said. He didn’t want to dance around the fact but he knew how badly Peter always wished he had a sibling and even though Morgan was technically now his older sister, he hoped Peter would still be happy. That was definitely not what Tony was expecting when he thought of Peter and Morgan playing together one day. 

Peter only stared at them. He tried to let it process in his mind for a few seconds. Tony had a baby while he was gone. Peter couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face then he started bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

“I have a baby brother?” Peter asked, excitedly. 

Both Tony and Pepper looked at each other surprised. Not at all what they were expecting. Pepper shook her head and reached out to take one of Peter’s smaller hands in hers. “Not exactly, Peter.” 

Peter frowned. “Big brother?” 

Tony couldn’t help but laugh. “No, bud. You have a big sister.” 

Peter didn’t want a sister. He wanted a brother so he threw his head back in protest. “I don’t want a sister. I wanted a brother.” 

“Pete. She’s kinda like a boy, I mean she likes playing with cars in the mud more than dolls. Although she still has lots of dolls.” Tony explained to try and make Peter feel better and then he laughed. “Actually, she might try and dress you up like one of her dolls.” 

Peter realized again what he was doing so he stopped. He had no idea what the hell was wrong with himself. “Oh. What’s her name?” 

“Morgan.” Tony answered and smiled. He missed her a lot since they never really separated from each other. 

Peter smiled and looked over at Pepper. “Does she have your hair?” 

“No.” Pepper playfully smacked Tony. “She took after her father's hair and his eyes and basically everything about him.” 

Peter didn’t know why that made him jealous. People always used to say that he and Tony looked alike and he knew that wasn’t possible since they weren’t related in any way but it was still his favourite compliment to receive. 

Now there was an actual child that looked like Tony because she was Tony’s. Peter was jealous at that but he tried not to let it show. 

Peter glanced between the two of them for a few seconds before landing on Tony. “What about Aunt May? Did she get dusted too?” 

The smile on both of their faces fell and Peter felt his fall as well. 

Tony held his hand just a little bit tighter. “Peter, when the snap first happened, there was a lot that happened. Airplanes fell out of the sky, killing all those inside if they didn’t already dust and killing those where the plane landed. People getting dusted in their cars and crashing, machines operating, a lot of bad stuff like that happened.” 

Tony paused for a few seconds before continuing. “Your Aunt, she didn’t get dusted but she was driving when the snap happened and another car crashed into hers. She died, bud. I’m so sorry.” 

Peter didn’t say anything for a long couple of seconds. Both Tony and Pepper waited silently to see how he would react and then all at once, tears fell out of Peter’s eyes and he was crying. 

The sight broke Tony’s heart so he held his arms out for Peter and Peter raised his arms up to be lifted up by Tony which is exactly what Tony did. 

He lifted Peter onto his lap like all those times he did and still does with Morgan when she’s upset but he learned how to hold a child like this from Peter originally. He missed holding his kid in his arms so much it almost hurt to have him back. 

Peter cried against his shoulder but Tony knew he was crying for a lot more than his dead Aunt. He was crying because he was scared, exhausted, confused. The fact that he got dusted ten hours ago but woke up ten years later as a five year old with a fifteen year old mindset. He was crying for a lot of reasons but Tony let him. He held his kid safely in his arms and let him cry it all out. 

They must have stayed like that for a long time because Tony’s butt had gone completely numb but he didn’t care. His kid needed him. 

Peter’s cries turned into small hiccups then he pulled away from Tony a bit to look at him. “What-what happened after?” 

Tony didn’t understand. “What do you mean, bud?” 

Peter used the corner of the blanket to wipe his tears. “Did-did you bury her?” 

Tony didn’t like that a five year old was asking that question. It hurt to hear. “Yeah. We did. We buried her right next to Ben and we had a beautiful funeral for her with her favourite flowers on her grave.” 

Peter nodded his head, sniffling. “Lilies?” 

Tony nodded. “Yes. Her favourite.” 

Peter laid his head back on Tony’s shoulder and let out a sigh. Tony knew how important it was for Peter to hear that his Aunt had a funeral and was buried next to his dead Uncle even if he wasn’t there for it. 

Peter felt his eyes start to flutter shut. “Thank you.” He whispered in Tony’s ear then reached a hand out for Pepper to hold. 

Without even thinking about it, Peter’s thumb disappeared into his mouth and his eyes closed. 

Pepper cooed at the sight and slowly let go of Peter’s hand so she could stand up. “He’s sleeping.” She whispered to Tony. 

Tony then stood up, keeping his child safe in his arms but Pepper was smiling at him. “What?” 

“He’s sucking on his thumb. It’s adorable.” She smiled at him and Tony felt his heart melt. That was absolutely adorable. Morgan had grown out of that habit a long time ago and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss it a bit but now he had another thumb sucker. 

“I need to see this.” Tony said then looked over at the mirror in the room so he walked over to it, careful not to stir Peter too much. He walked over to the mirror and saw his kid sleeping. 

He missed that sight so much he would have dreams on those lucky nights he got to have Peter back in his arms but then he would wake up, soaking wet from sweat and no Peter. Those nights were a gift and a curse. 

But now here he was, safe in Tony’s arms like he was always supposed to be. 

Tony would see him suck on his thumb occasionally in his sleep, he looked over at Pepper and smiled at her and then he looked back in the mirror and looked at his reflection staring back at him. 

The smile fell from his face. 

He was definitely ten years younger. It was a huge difference. All the gray from his hair and beard were gone, his hair was a lot thicker and little to no wrinkles, 

It was weird… really weird. He looked at himself in the mirror only hours before and he was a fifty year old but now he was forty. Wow. 

“What is it?” Pepper asked but he knew she knew already what he was looking at because she was touching his face. “I still love you. And I know Morgan still will. Peter definitely does.” 

Tony looked away. It would definitely take a lot to get used to. “I know. Let’s go get our daughter now and introduce her to her new little brother.” 

Pepper smiled at him then leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. She stayed like that for a few seconds, Tony kissing her back and then she pulled away. 

They walked out of the room after Tony grabbed Peter’s Spider-Man suit and threw it over his arm. They walked down the hallway where all the Avengers and some Wakandans were. 

Everyone stopped to stare at them and Tony knew it was no doubt due to the fact that Tony was ten years younger and holding a child in his arms that was supposed to be Spider-Man. 

“I’ve waited ten years for this moment so I’m taking my kid home with me and I don’t want anyone to bother us.” Tony didn’t care if he was being a bit harsh. He had the right to be selfish at times too. 

No one said anything but Tony could tell that they all had so many questions or comments but he wasn’t sticking around to hear them. 

He turned around and left with Pepper in tow. 

When they got to a car out front that would now be theirs since the other one was blown up in the fight, Tony opened the back door. “I’m gonna sit in the back with him since we don’t have a car seat yet… plus I don’t want to let him go.” 

Pepper nodded her head, climbing into the front seat and waiting for Tony to get comfortable with Peter on his lap before she started the car and drove away. 

“Should we stop somewhere to get him some clothes?” Pepper asked quietly. 

“No. I don’t think a lot of stores are going to be opened after everything that’s going on. We should wait a few days for everything to settle down before we leave the house.” Tony said to her. He didn’t want to leave the house at all once he was home but he knew it was necessary to get Peter some clothes that actually fit him. 

“I don’t think we kept any of Morgan’s outfits from that age. I can look around to see if we have anything.” 

Tony hummed. He was looking down at Peter sleeping in his arms with his thumb still in his mouth and his head cradled in the crook of his arm. “We’ll figure something out.” 

Pepper looked in the rearview mirror at the two of them. A smile crept onto her face. She knew that Tony was content with Peter and so she didn’t try talking to him anymore. 

The car ride was just over two hours long so she kept quiet and occasionally glanced a peek at the two of them every so often. 

Just as they were pulling up to their street, Pepper spoke. “I’m gonna go inside and explain to Morgan what’s going on and who Peter is before you bring him in so it’s not too much for her, okay?” 

Tony’s arm had gone numb a long time ago. His butt as well but he didn’t care one bit. “Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah that’s a good idea. Tell Hap to come out when you go in.” 

Pepper pulled the car up front and turned it off. She took her seatbelt off and turned around to look at the two of them. Peter was still sound asleep in Tony’s arms but his thumb had slipped out of his mouth. “I’ll be right back.” 

Tony smiled at her. “Good luck.” 

Tony watched Pepper enter the house and then he was waking Peter up. “Hey, bud. Wake up.” 

Peter slowly woke up and shifted on Tony’s lap but once he realized where he was, he quickly scrambled off of Tony’s lap and slid onto the seat next to him. 

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Peter rubbed his eye but since it was nighttime, it was too dark in the car for Tony to see the blush that was probably raising to Peter’s face. 

“Don’t be sorry.” Tony really hoped that that wasn’t the last time Peter fell asleep on him like that. He missed it so much. 

Peter yawned and then looked outside. “Where are we?” 

“We’re at the cabin I was telling you about. I’ll show you around inside after you meet Morgan. Pepper is in there with her now and- oh look who it is.” Tony smiled at seeing Happy. 

The man had been watching Morgan since he was her favourite Uncle because he always gave her candy. 

Peter’s eyes went wide as he peeked out the window and then smiled when he saw the man. “Happy!” 

Tony opened the back door and Happy stopped in his tracks. He was looking at Tony with wide eyes and then looked down at Peter. 

He pointed to the child while looking at Tony. “Peter?” 

Tony nodded and Peter bounced on his knees next to him. “Happy. Happy, it’s me. It’s Peter. Do you remember me?” 

Tony thought that he saw Happy's eyes tear up at the sight of the child that he’s seen Tony cry over. “Kid. Peter. Hi, of course I remember you. How could I forget.” 

Peter beamed in the seat next to him while he stared at Happy. 

Happy walked closer to the car so that he was standing right next to the open back door. “Pepper told me that you snapped and it aged yourself back ten years and everyone that came back was ten years younger but this- this is something else.” 

Inside, Pepper walked inside the house and Happy was immediately at her side with a concerned look on his face. Probably terrified that she was walking in without Tony. 

She smiled at him. “We won. We won, Hap.” 

He immediately relaxed and hugged her. “Where’s Tony?” 

She pulled away from him. “He’s in the car. With Peter. But, Happy, Tony will explain everything to you but… it didn’t work out how we expected it to. Tony snapped and it… it aged him back ten years. Everyone else that got dusted, they came back ten years younger.” 

Happy froze. He wasn’t sure what he was hearing was correct. “But Peter…?” 

She didn’t say anything else so Happy went outside. Pepper immediately looked around for Morgan. “Morgan? Baby, we’re home.” 

Pepper smiled when she heard footsteps running from upstairs. “Mommy! Mommy!” 

Morgan jumped down the last step and crashed into Peppers arms. “Did you win, mom? Where’s dad?” 

Pepper hugged her daughter and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Dads in the car and yes we won, beautiful.” 

Morgan squeezed her tighter. “I wanna go see him!” 

Pepper stopped her from bolting out of the house. “Wait. I need to talk to you about something first.” 

Pepper led Morgan over to the couch and sat down. Morgan was looking over at her with so much concern in her eyes. “What is it, mommy?” 

“Well, do you remember Peter?” Pepper started with. 

Morgan smiled and nodded her head. “Yeah! He’s the boy in all the picture frames with daddy.” Morgan’s smile then dropped. “He’s the boy that makes daddy cry every night.” 

Pepper smiled fondly. Peter was mentioned everyday in their house but sometimes it was even hard for Morgan to listen to stories about Peter because Tony always said that Peter would have been her older brother but died before she was born and Morgan always wished she had someone to play with. 

“Baby, you know how much daddy loves him.” Pepper said and Morgan was nodding her head.

“I know, mommy. Dad loves Peter like he loves me.” Morgan explained. 

“Mhmm. That’s right my sweet girl.” Pepper reached her hand out and cupped Morgan’s face. “Well guess who daddy brought home?” 

Morgan’s face lit up. “Peter? My big brother?” 

Pepper smiled at the resemblance at how Peter reacted. “I told you we won, didn’t I?”

Morgan stood up and jumped up and down. “Where is he? Where is he?” 

Pepper gently pulled her back down beside her. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, sweetie. You see, when Peter got dusted, remember we told you about what happened before you were born?” 

When Morgan nodded, Pepper continued. “Well, when all the people who got dusted came back, they came back ten years younger than they were before. So Peter was fifteen so that would make him-” 

“Five.” Morgan said before Pepper got the chance. Pepper nodded and then Morgan looked down in thought. “So- so Peter is… my little brother and not my big brother?” 

Pepper nodded her head. Morgan didn’t react and how she expected. She knew that it was hard for a nine year old to process what she had just been told after spending her whole life being told she had an older brother. 

“Do you want to meet him?” Pepper asked her and she was immediately looking up with a giant smile on her face. 

“Yes! Oh please! I have a baby brother! That means I’m the oldest so I can protect him!” Morgan stood up off the couch but Pepper didn’t move since there was still one more thing that she had to tell her about. 

“That’s right, baby.” Pepper said with a smile. 

“And I’m older so I can tell him what to do.” Morgan spoke with conviction and Pepper laughed. 

“I guess you can but I have to tell you one more thing.” Pepper patted the couch again and then Morgan sat down, a frown on her face. 

“So when daddy had to do the snap, it also aged him back ten years. He’s gonna look a little bit different but he’s still the same daddy. He still loves you so much, okay?” Pepper watched Morgan’s face but she could tell that her daughter was too excited to process what she was truly saying. 

“That’s okay, mommy. Can I go meet my baby brother?” Morgan asked excitedly and Pepper couldn’t hold her back anymore. 

“Let’s go meet him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh I hope you guys liked that chapter! I love writing this fic so much ahhh I’m trying to think of life updates to update you on but I’ve got nothing. Ummmm it’s freezing outside and I want to go outside to swing on my swing but I can’t and I might have an ear infection so there’s that


	3. I’ve waited a million years for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys:) I’m back with another update! Morgan gets to meet her new ‘baby’ brother haha

Tony had been listening to Peter tell Happy what happened then he heard the front door swing open and Morgan come running out. 

“Baby brother! Baby brother!” Morgan jumped down the last step of the deck and ran over to the car. Happy stepped out of the way so she could look into the car. 

Tony smiled at his daughter and felt Peter lean against him more so he could look at Morgan. 

“Daddy! You brought Peter home!” Morgan yelled and then got to the car door so she could look at Peter. 

“I did. Say hi, Morgan.” Tony reached his hand out to place a hand on her back and watched the two of his kids meeting for the first time. 

Peter looked at her with wide eyes then lifted up a hand to wave to her. “Hi. I’m Peter.” 

Morgan smiled at him. “I know. Mommy and daddy told me all about you but you’re supposed to be my big brother and now you’re my younger brother but I’m okay with that.” 

Peter leaned against Tony’s arm so Tony pulled him closer to himself with the arm that was already around him. “Oh. It’s because I was dusted.” 

Morgan nodded. “I know. Mommy told me. Do you wanna come play with me?” 

Tony spoke up before Peter had the chance to. “Hey, honey, Peter’s tired now so how about you go find him something to wear with mommy while I take him inside?” 

Morgan hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing. “Okay! Let’s go mommy.” 

“Tony, I’m going to leave you guys to it. Do you need anything?” Happy asked from the side of the car. He could tell that Tony waited years for this moment and as close as he was to the Stark’s, this was a private family moment. 

Tony was already shaking his head. “No. Thanks, Hap.” 

Happy patted Tony’s arm and looked at Peter, giving him a warm smile before he was leaving. 

Tony ran his fingers through his kids hair. “Hey, bud. You ready to go inside?” 

Peter nodded his head so Tony let go of him and stepped out of the car then waited for Peter to get out as well. He knew Peter was barefoot and that the ground was definitely cold and hard on his tiny feet so what he did next was for that reason but also because he wanted to hold Peter in his arms again and never let him go. 

“Do you want me to carry you inside?” Tony asked him and Peter immediately raised his arms up for him, without thinking about it so in one quick motion, Tony lifted Peter into his arms and set him on his hip, pulling the blanket around his shoulders and shutting the car door with the other hand. 

He felt Peter grab onto the back of his shirt with his tiny hand and Tony couldn’t help but smile. He missed his kid so much. 

Once they got inside, Peter was looking around at everything with wide eyes, taking in the layout of the house and all the furniture inside. Tony kicked his shoes off and went to place Peter on the floor even if the last thing he wanted to do was let go of his kid. 

Peter let out a whine and clung onto him tighter so Tony held him back tighter as well. “Okay. I won’t let you go. I’ll take you upstairs.” 

“Okay.” Peter continued to look at everything while they headed upstairs and once they got to the top, he reached his hand out to point to a picture. “That’s me.” 

Tony stood on top of the stairs, in front of the picture of him and Peter. “It was, bud. There’s tons of pictures of you around the house.” 

Peter ran his hand gently over the glass. It was a picture of him and Tony in the lab back when he was fifteen years old. Both of them were oblivious to the picture being taken of them. 

Just then, Morgan ran into the hallway. “Daddy! Look what I found for Peter to wear. It used to be mine but I grew out of it. Mom said it might be too big on him but that’s okay.” 

Peter looked down at Morgan and reached for the clothes that she was holding out to him. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, Peter.” Morgan smiled up at him and then Pepper walked out of her room with a pile of sheets in her hands. “Can I help Peter with his bath, dad?” 

Tony looked at Peter just in time for him to watch Peter’s eyes widen and he shook his head then kicked his legs to be put down. Tony placed him on the floor and helped Peter pull the blanket further around himself. 

“I think Peter wants to shower by himself, Morg. Can you help mom?” Tony suggested and Morgan looked sad but she ran off to go help Pepper. 

Tony didn’t know if Peter wanted him to help him or not. It was obvious that Peter was fighting between his teenage self and the new five year old self that he was in. With the thumb sucking, the random outbursts that lasted a few seconds because then Peter would realize what he was doing and stop. 

He couldn’t blame the clinging and carrying on that was happening though since he knew Peter loved his physical affection and was scared so he wanted Tony to hold him. 

What Tony didn’t know was if Peter would eventually slip into his five year old mindset or keep trying to fight it with his teenage self. Only time would tell. 

Tony led Peter into his and Peppers bathroom where everyone would shower or take a bath in, no one really used the other bathrooms and he didn’t know why but he didn’t care. 

“Here’s the shower, I know you know how to use it so I won’t be explaining that to you. I can get you your favourite apple shampoo but until now you’re stuck with strawberries.” Tony didn’t want to tell Peter that he couldn’t smell that damn apple scented shampoo without immediately breaking down since it was once his favourite smell in the world. Maybe it could be again. 

“Uh, and I’ll leave the clothes and towel here for you.” Tony placed the clean towel on the counter and took the clothes from Peter to place there as well. “Take your time, bud. If you need me then just call me and I’ll come.” 

“Okay. Thanks.” Peter then waited for Tony to leave and shut the bathroom door before he dropped the blanket and looked down at his underwear that looked like shorts on him; they were so big. 

He pulled them down and stepped out of them. He knew he would never be wearing them again so he should probably just throw them out but he didn’t. 

He looked down at himself and cringed. He was definitely a five year old. His stomach stuck out with a pudgy belly and his legs were so short and chubby, as well as his arms. 

Peter looked at the full body length mirror and walked over to it. His face was all dirty with sweat, dust and who knows what else and same with his hair so that made him look a tad older. He knew after he washed all that off then he would look even younger. 

He walked closer to the mirror and examined his face up close. Yep. Definitely a five year old if he can remember from the pictures of himself as a five year old from before. 

Turning away from the mirror, Peter walked over to the shower and got inside. He had to step on his tippy toes to turn the shower on and he struggled with setting it to the right temperature but once he got it, he let the warm water run over his body. 

It was nice. He shut his eyes and realized that he could actually fall asleep in the shower right now. He was exhausted and he wanted Tony. 

Even though he knew the man was probably just outside waiting for him, he still missed him a lot. 

Peter grabbed the bottle of strawberry shampoo and struggled to hold the bottle since his hands were so tiny and the bottle was too big. After spilling a bunch onto the shower floor, Peter eventually got it into his hands so he started to soap his hair up until it was all foamy. 

He rinsed it and struggled with the body wash soap bottle as well but once he got some onto his hands, he started to clean his whole body, making sure to get everywhere. 

Once he was done, Peter took longer than was probably necessary to rinse himself off but just because he was really enjoying the warm water. 

He tried to turn off the water but he couldn’t lift the handle up. He tried jumping but he still couldn’t reach it so he let out a cry because he was frustrated and he just wanted Tony. 

Peter whimpered and got out of the shower to grab his towel. He wrapped it securely around himself and tried his best to quickly dry his hair and his body then got dressed into the clothes. 

It was hard to get dressed which was frustrating. He couldn’t keep his balance on his foot so he had to sit down to put his pants on, Well Morgan’s pants. 

The pyjama shirt was white and had a grey elephant on it and the pants were grey with white elephants on it. They were also extremely huge on him so he might need Pepper to tie it again. 

After he was done, he held onto the waistband and called out for Tony. “Tony? Tony?” 

Tony was opening the bathroom door seconds later, “Yeah, bud?” 

Peter watched him turn off the shower and then step towards him. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t reach it.” 

Tony smiled at him and kneeled down to roll up the bottom of his pants. “It’s okay, bud. We’ll get you some clothes tomorrow.” 

Peter didn’t say anything. Was he staying with Tony forever now? He hoped so but he didn’t know. 

Tony grabbed an electric from the countertop and tied up his pants then stood up fully. Peter immediately reached his arms up for the man but he stopped once he realized he was acting like a… well a five year old. 

Tony hesitated as well, he wanted to pick Peter up but Peter didn’t want that. Or he didn’t want to want that. He didn’t push it and led Peter out into the bedroom then into the hallway and into another bedroom. 

“This is where you’ll sleep for tonight, okay, bud?” Tony pulled back the blankets and watched as Peter struggled to climb onto the bed so he reached over and picked him up to help him on. 

Peter blushed red and looked down as he climbed into the bed and got under the blankets that Tony held out for him. “Lie down, Petey.” 

Peter shut his eyes at the nickname. He loved it when Tony called him that but he didn’t know why he wanted to cry at hearing it now. He lied down and opened his eyes to see Tony staring down at him with a smile on his face that held so much love. 

Tony was caressing his face so Peter reached a hand out to do the same to Tony. “Oh Peter. I missed you so much. You have no idea.” 

Peter didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. 

“I’m so glad that it worked. I missed you like crazy.” Tony repeated again because he couldn’t believe he was looking at his kid after ten years. 

Peter shut his eyes, feeling content that Tony was here with him. 

Tony leaned down to press a kiss to Peter’s forehead and then he reluctantly stood up. He wanted to stay but he still had to shower and go talk to Pepper. 

Peter’s eyes shot open. He didn’t want Tony to leave. He wanted to stay with him forever but he didn’t ask him to stay. Instead, he watched him leave the bedroom. 

Tony leaned against Peter’s bedroom door and smiled. His baby was home. 

Walking into Morgan’s bedroom, Tony saw that she was already asleep. He sat down on her bed and pressed a kiss to her face as well. 

His two babies. 

Then Tony went into his bedroom just as Pepper was walking out of the bathroom, freshly showered and in her pyjamas. “Is he asleep?” 

“Yeah. He will be soon.” Tony walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, not caring that he was still dirty. “I love you so much.” 

“Hey, go shower and then I’ll say it back.” Pepper playfully pushed him away so Tony disappeared into the bathroom to have a quick shower. 

When he got out, he felt better than he had in years. He had his baby boy back and it worked. He couldn’t believe it actually worked. 

“Can you believe I have my boy back?” Tony asked Pepper as he crawled into their large king sized bed. He laid on his side with his arm holding his head up and she mirrored his position. 

“You did it, Tony. It was all you.” She smiled at him but that wasn’t true. He couldn’t have done any of it without her. 

“Not just me. You too, Pep.” Tony laid down on his back and looked up at the ceiling. “How did Morgan take it?” 

Pepper sighed and laid down on her back as well. “She took it well, I think she likes the fact that Peter is younger than her but she doesn’t understand why we couldn’t help him with his bath.” 

Tony figured as much. 

“Did you help him?” She asked him. 

“No. I helped him turn off the shower after he was already dressed.” Tony paused. He didn’t want to admit it but he wanted Peter to ask for help and act like the five year old he really is. 

It’s obvious that his body is starting to act that way but his teenage mindset is still intact. Tony didn’t know how it worked and he knew that millions of other people were going through the same thing so only time will tell. 

“Do you think he’ll eventually let go of his old self?” Pepper asked as if she knew what he was thinking. 

Tony didn’t know for sure, “Maybe. I hate to say this but I hope so. I was always so mad that I didn’t get to raise him or get to experience what he was like when he was younger and now I do so I hope he acts his age.” 

Pepper smiled. She hoped so too. “Don’t you think it’s kinda weird how everything turned out? Whenever we used to think about Peter meeting Morgan, it was always as her older brother. And now she’s the older one.” 

Tony laughed. “Yeah. Pete’s the baby of the family now.” 

Pepper stopped laughing and turned to look at Tony. “We have two kids now. We actually have two babies. We could barely handle one, how are we going to do this?” 

Tony looked over and mirrored the smile on Peppers face. “Together. Like always.” 

.  
.  
.

Peter watched Tony leave the bedroom and after he was out of his sight, he started to let the tears fall because he was all alone. 

Tony wasn’t with him just like after he got dusted. He was alone and he was terrified. 

He knew that Tony was right down the hall but that wasn’t with him. That was down the hall and it was too far. 

Peter tried to quiet his whimper and his thumb raised to his mouth once again but this time he didn’t stop it from going in because he really didn’t care. 

He thought about how his life was going to be so different now. He wasn’t sure if Tony was going to keep him and that scared him because Aunt May was dead so he didn’t have anywhere else to go plus he really wanted to stay with Tony. 

Peter turned on his bed so he could try to fall asleep but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that without Tony and with his mind racing so he took his thumb out of his mouth and slid out of bed. 

He was sure that Tony’s and Peppers bedroom was just down the hall from his since it was the one that he walked out of. 

Peter didn’t care if Tony thought he was a baby because he just wanted to be held and told that everything was going to be okay. 

He let out a sob that triggered the rest of the tears and the loud crying then he pushed open the bedroom door and stood by the doorway while he cried. 

Tony turned around to look at him and then was immediately getting out of bed and kneeling in front of Peter. “What happened, Petey?” 

Peter sniffled and then looked at Tony with blurry eyes. “Am-am I gonna live with you now forever?” 

Tony paused. He wasn’t expecting that. It was what was going to happen though so he hoped it was what Peter wanted. “Yeah, you are, bud. You’re staying here with us forever now.” 

Peter started crying more at that but Tony knew that wasn’t a bad thing. It could be him crying out of relief. Peter threw himself into his arms. “Y-yeah. I want to stay with you forever.” 

“Okay, Pete. I promise you you will.” Tony hugged Peter tighter because he didn’t want to ever let him go. 

Peter pointed to the bed. “I wanna-I wanna sleep with you.” 

Tony lifted him into his arms and stood up to look at Pepper who was nodding her head so Tony got back into bed and laid Peter down so that he was between the two of them like Morgan did with them so many times. 

Peter waited for Tony to lie down before he was crawling on top of the man and putting his head on his chest so he could listen to his heart beat. 

“It’s okay, Peter. You’re okay.” Tony rubbed his back and pressed a kiss to his still damp hair. 

Peter started hiccuping and then stuck his thumb in his mouth and looked at Pepper. 

Tony saw the action. He was mentally cooing at Peter and he could tell that Pepper was as well. 

He held his baby in his arms until he felt Peter drift off to sleep in his arms and Tony held him the whole time with no intention to let him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that:) I love this fic soooo much ahhh! I’m so excited for you guys to read what I have planned. 
> 
> I have a question for everyone, is anyone from Hawaii? Like does anyone here live in Hawaii?


	4. I’ve got everything, I’ve got you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a new chapter:) I just wrote I think chapter 11 and omgggg I’m soooo freaking excited for you guys to read that one!

Tony woke up to the sun coming through the window. It was how he woke up on most mornings but this morning wasn’t like most mornings. 

He was terrified that what happened during the battle and getting Peter back was just a dream. Some sick and twisted dream that he had gotten all too familiar with over the years. 

His eyes shot open and he started moving his hand across the bed to try and feel for the small body on his bed. He felt someone and tried to blink away the brightness and sleep from his eyes. 

The sight that he was met with was worth everything. 

Peter was sound asleep, facing him with his thumb still in his mouth, loosely sitting there. Peter was curled into a small ball and his curls were hanging in his face. 

Tony wasn’t sure how he let go of Peter during the night but he was glad that Peter was still in his reach. 

He sat up in bed and looked at where Pepper was supposed to be but she wasn’t there. He wasn’t surprised since she had always been an early riser and he hated to get up early. 

Although they all needed the sleep because of all the physical and emotional strain that they went through yesterday. 

Tony leaned over to check the time on the clock and saw that it was just past 2pm. Woah. He hadn’t slept that late in a long time. 

He checked on Peter one last time before he was getting out of bed and going into the bathroom to go pee, brush his teeth and change into some track pants and a shirt. 

When he walked out of the bathroom, Pepper was sitting on the edge of the bed and smiling down at Peter. 

“How long have you been up?” Tony asked her. 

She turned to him to answer, “Not very long. Maybe forty minutes. Morgan let us sleep and she even made herself breakfast and was playing quietly in the playroom.” 

“I don’t want to leave him.” Tony admitted and joined her on the bed. He subconsciously ran a hand through Peter’s hair and then Peter was letting out a whine and pulling his thumb from his mouth. 

“Do you think he’s too old to be sucking his thumb? We got Morgan to stop doing it at four.” Pepper voiced her concern but Tony was quick to speak up. 

“No. Let him. He’s… it soothes him and it’s cute.” Tony didn’t want to stop Peter from doing that, he knew he was too old for it but if Peter didn’t stop himself in a few months then he would work on it with Pepper. 

Pepper smiled at him. “I’ll leave you to it but just so you know, Morgan is desperate to see him.” 

Tony smiled and nodded his head. He knew that. 

Pepper left after that so Tony stayed with Peter on the bed just watching him. He listened to his breathing and watched as his chest would rise and fall. 

After a little bit and no sign of Peter waking up, Tony carefully got off the bed and snuck downstairs so he could grab his computer and order a bunch of clothes and other things that they would need for Peter. 

“Dad? Can I go see Peter.” Morgan asked from the kitchen island where she was helping Pepper make soup. 

“He’s still sleeping, Morg.” Tony said as he grabbed his computer and charger. 

“But… I really want to see him. I didn’t even get to see him yesterday because he went to sleep.” Morgan stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. 

Tony sighed. “Alright. You can come up to see him for five minutes but you have to be really quiet so he can sleep.” 

“Yay!” Morgan jumped off the kitchen stool and ran over to her dad's side. “I’ll come help you later, mom.” 

Tony went with Morgan upstairs and she ever so quietly walked into the bedroom. Tony didn’t know how she knew Peter was in there but he assumed it was because she came into their room in the morning and saw him there. 

“Aw. Daddy, he’s sleeping like my dolls.” Morgan whispered to him and then carefully crawled onto the bed to look at Peter close up. 

“He is, isn’t he.” Tony smiled at his two babies. He couldn’t wait to watch them bond together although Tony knows he can’t expect that right away, especially with Peter apparently stuck between a teen and a five year old. 

Tony sat down on the back and opened up his computer to start buying a bunch of clothes for Peter. Usually they would drive into town or even into the city to buy stuff but he didn’t want to do that right now so he would order everything to the house. 

“Why can’t he wake up to play with me?” Morgan asked and reached a finger out to poke Peter on the arm. 

“Morgan. I told you not to wake him up.” Tony warned. “I think it’s time you go back downstairs and help mom with the oatmeal.” 

Morgan looked at him. “It’s soup, dad.” 

“Oh, my bad. I’ll bring him down later.” Tony said and watched her run off. 

Peter slept for the next hour but it gave Tony time to order everything that he could think of. Clothes, some toys but he wanted Peter to pick that stuff out himself, a car seat, a bedroom set with a new bed and dressers and sippy cups for him. 

He wasn’t sure if Peter would need sippy cups but he remembered that Morgan had them at that age and he really missed it. Either way he ordered them. 

As if on cue, Peter started to wake up. He slowly started moving and Tony thought it was going to be a slow wake up but seconds later, Peter was shooting his head up and looking around wildly. 

“Peter. Hey, buddy. You’re okay. Just breathe.” Tony put his computer away to look at Peter and give him his full attention. 

Peter’s eyes landed on Tony’s and he calmed down considerably. Tony smiled at him. “Hi. Do you remember what happened?” 

Peter nodded his head and then sat up and crawled over to Tony on the bed so Tony placed his hands under Peter’s armpits and lifted him into his lap, melting with Peter laid his head on his shoulder. 

“Buddy, you hungry? Let’s go eat some breakfast.” Tony felt his heart swelling at how adorable this was. He waited ten years for this moment and he still couldn’t get over how happy he was, he didn’t think he ever would but he was more than okay with that. 

He got off the bed and carried Peter downstairs. Morgan was immediately running over to them and smiling up at Peter in her dad's arms. “Hi Peter. I made you breakfast with mommy. Are you hungry?” 

Peter lifted his head up from Tony’s shoulder and looked down then nodded his head. 

“Okay! Daddy always said how much you used to like pancakes with chocolate chips in them so I made you that with your apple juice.” Morgan excitedly ran into the kitchen and started getting the food ready for Peter. 

“Good morning, Peter. Well, afternoon. We all woke up really late.” Pepper said as she poured Tony’s cup of coffee and made him an omelette. 

“Not me!” Morgan cheered happily as Peter shyly put his head on Tony’s shoulder and watched everyone. 

Tony sat down on one of the kitchen stools and went to place Peter in the seat next to him but Peter let out a loud whine and shook his head. “No. Wanna stay with you.” 

Tony was perfectly fine with that. “Alright, Pete.” He moved Peter so that he was sitting on his lap but with Peter’s back to his chest. Morgan placed the plate of pancakes in front of him with his glass of apple juice at the same time as Pepper placed Tony’s coffee and omelette. 

“Hi Peter.” Morgan giggled and grinned at Peter. “Can I feed you? I have practice from my dolls.” 

Tony looked over at Pepper who was sitting at the table, drinking her tea and holding back her laugh at Morgan’s question. Tony was about to say something about how Peter wouldn’t want that but then Peter was nodding his head. 

Tony looked over at Pepper in shock because just last night he was having adult conversations and now he was willingly about to let someone feed him. 

No one said anything as they all watched Morgan put a piece of pancake on the fork, dip it in syrup and hold it out to Peter’s open mouth. 

“Is it yummy, Peter?” Morgan asked him and Peter nodded then opened his mouth again so Morgan fed him another bite. 

Tony couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was unbelievably crazy but he loved it so much. 

After the third bite, Peter was reaching for the fork himself. “I do it myself.” 

Hearing Peter speak like an actual five year old now was weird to hear. Tony liked it but he had listened to a five year old talk in complete adult sentences but now Peter was sounding how he was supposed to and it was adorable. 

Morgan handed him the fork. “Okay. I’ll help you drink your juice.” She picked up the glass and held it to Peter’s lips but she was tilting it faster than Peter could drink so it was smiling down his mouth and onto his shirt. “Oh no.” 

“Thanks, little miss, but I’ll take over.” Tony grabbed the glass from Morgan’s hands and let Peter swallow what he had in his mouth before he was bringing the glass back up to his mouth to drink. 

“He needs a bath after, daddy.” Morgan pointed out but Tony wasn’t sure if Peter would want that. No one said anything about it but Peter didn’t say no either so Tony wasn’t sure. 

They continued to eat breakfast, Tony being more focused on watching Peter eat than actually eating himself. 

Morgan was leaning over his side to watch Peter eat too and then after Peter was done, she was tapping on Tony’s arm. “Can I show him my playroom now?” 

“Do you want to go look at her playroom, Pete?” Tony asked him while Peter was licking his lips dramatically. 

“You coming too?” Peter asked, turning around to look at Tony. 

“Yeah, of course. We’ll all go see it.” Tony stood you but he felt Peter trying to get out of his arms so he reluctantly put him on his feet but Morgan was at his side in a second. 

“Come with me, Peter. I’ll show you.” Morgan grabbed Peter’s hand which he took and then they were walking ahead of Tony and Pepper. 

It was Tony’s first time seeing the two side by side because every time they saw each other, Peter was in his arms or in his bed but now he could see his two babies right next to each other. 

He always saw Morgan as such a tiny person and every time he would look at her, he would just see how small she was but now seeing her next to Peter, he realized just how tiny Peter was. 

It was different to see because his once tiny kid was no longer the tiny one, Peter was now. 

When they got to the playroom at the end of the hall, Morgan stepped down the two stairs that led them into it and carefully helped Peter down. 

Tony smiled at the way Morgan was treating him. It was adorable. 

“I’ll show you my toys, Peter. I even have a mini slide but I’m kinda too big for it now. Maybe you can fit- hey! Baby Peter can fit in my old swing outside. Let’s go put him in it and push him.” Morgan turned to Pepper excitedly and bounced on her feet. “Please?” 

“How about after lunch we go outside. Right now you can show him around the house.” Pepper told her daughter because she didn’t want Peter to get too overwhelmed. 

“Okay!” Morgan said then turned back to Peter who had moved to a pile of toys on the floor. “Those are my dinosaurs but the rest are outside in the garden.” 

“I like this one.” Peter sat down on his knees and held up a Tyrannosaurus rex. 

“Yeah! That one's cool but he eats other dinosaurs so that’s rude.” Morgan explained then grabbed a Triceratops. “This one is a nice one.” 

Peter grabbed his dinosaur and pretended to eat Morgan’s dinosaur. “Roar! I eat you!” 

Tony looked at Pepper because that was so freaking cute. She leaned against his shoulder and whispered, “I guess you were right about him falling into his five year old self.” 

Tony nodded, “Yeah. It just happened a lot faster than I expected.” 

Both of them sat down on the step to watch their kids interact with each other for the very first time. Tony tried to live in the moment but he needed to take a few pictures of this moment to remember it forever. 

They continued to watch the two of them for about twenty minutes but then Peter was standing up and walking over to them with a pained look on his face and holding himself. 

They both knew exactly what that meant. 

“I needa pee.” Peter said and Tony was already on his feet and lifting Peter up over the two steps and then led him down the hallway where the bathroom was. 

He didn’t know why he didn’t send his kid to go after he woke up. It would make sense since Peter had last gone pee who knows when. 

“Okay. In here. I’ll wait outside but call me if you need me.” Tony turned the bathroom light on and shut the door. He stood outside for a lot longer than he should have but then Peter was walking out. 

“All done.” Peter said with a smile and took off in the direction of the playroom again. 

Tony didn’t expect that. Peter didn’t even wait for him. He tried not to let it bug him that Peter wasn’t clinging onto him anymore as he walked back to the playroom and sat down next to Pepper. 

“Did he make it?” She asked him and Tony got some nostalgia from when Morgan was that age. 

“Yeah. Well, I didn’t check his pants but I think so.” Tony got a buzz on his phone which was the text for his arrival of the delivery. “Oh! Everything I ordered is here. I’m gonna go drive down to the end of the driveway to go get it.” 

Tony stood up to go leave but as soon as he went to walk away, Peter saw him so he stood up and ran to his side. “No. Don’ go.” 

Tony's heart melted once again. He kneeled down so he was at Peter’s level. “I’m going to be right back. Ten minutes tops. I just have to go get your clothes and everything else so you don’t have to wear this anymore.” 

Peter’s bottom lip shook. “No. Don’ go.” 

“I’ll be right back. Stay with Pepper, okay?” Tony pointed to Pepper so Peter slowly walked over to her and to everyone’s surprise, he sat on her lap. “I’ll be right back.” 

Peter watched Tony leave and as soon as he was out of sight, he started to sadly hiccup. Morgan saw the whole thing then she walked over to them and sat down in front of Pepper and Peter. 

“Don’t be sad. Daddy just went to go get the delivery like he always does. Sometimes I go with him too! It’s so much fun.” Morgan reached forward and wiped away Peter’s tears for him. 

“You’re so sweet, little miss.” Pepper said to her. She always imagined this day but it never went like this. 

“Yeah. He’s my baby brother.” Morgan said like it explained everything and in a way it did. “Let’s go wait for daddy by the front door. I always do that.” 

Peter nodded his head and climbed off of Peppers lap. He waited for her to stand up before he was reaching his arms up for her to be picked up again. 

Pepper lifted Peter into his arms and placed him on her hip. She missed this so much but she didn’t realize it until now. She used to hold Morgan all the time but now she was too big for her to carry so she couldn’t. She was definitely going to be carrying Peter a lot more. 

They got to the front door and walked out onto the front deck to watch Tony drive up the long driveway. Morgan was waving to him while Peter laid his head on Pepper's shoulder and grabbed onto the front of her shirt. 

Tony parked the car and got out. He loved the sight that he saw. His daughter jumping up and down, waving to him and his son in his wife’s arms. Life was perfect. 

“Wanna come help me, Morg?” Tony called out to her while he opened the trunk. There were a lot of boxes so it definitely be taking a lot of trips but Morgan was strong so she could help out. 

“I’ll carry the lighter ones.” Morgan said then Tony handed her a box that was filled with clothes. She struggled but she carried it towards the house while Tony grabbed two boxes of clothes and walked towards the house as well. 

Once he was close enough to Peter, Peter reached his arm out. “Hi, baby. I can’t hold you right now because I’m carrying heavy boxes.” 

Peter put his arm down and lifted his head off of Pepper’s shoulder to watch what the two were doing. 

When they got back to the car, Tony handed Morgan two boxes since they were fairly small and light. “You got those?” 

“Yep!” Morgan said confidently. 

Tony smiled at his girl then grabbed another box which was Peter’s car seat. It was a huge box that he was sure Morgan was going to use to play in later. 

There were still four more boxes but they were long and gonna be heavy so he needed Pepper to carry one end. It was Peter’s bedroom set which he was excited to put together. 

Once everything was inside, Tony moved to open the box of clothes so he could get Peter changed into something his size first before they opened up the rest of the boxes. 

Tony opened the box up and Morgan was looking inside. “I can pick out his outfit for him.” 

Peter squatted down and looked at the clothes that Morgan was grabbing out of the box. Tony knew Peter was a very chatty kid, both from experience and stories but Peter was being so quiet now and was just observing everything around him which was really cute but Tony really hoped that he would hear Peter’s chatty side soon. He missed it. 

Morgan laid out his pants, shirt and the package of socks but then she pulled out a package of underwear and she frowned. “But where’s his diapers?” 

Tony laughed and looked at Pepper who was also laughing then he looked over at Peter who was looking at him with no reaction whatsoever. “He doesn’t need diapers, Morg.” 

Morgan tossed the underwear into the box. “But… I’m supposed to help you change him.” 

Tony laughed again. “No, Petey doesn’t need them. He’s already potty trained.” 

Morgan sat down and crossed her arms over her chest. Tony didn’t know what to do, he knew she wanted Peter to be a full on baby but he wasn’t. Well, Peter was to him but he just wasn’t in diapers. 

“How about you help mom sort out the rest of his clothes while I take Peter upstairs to change?” Tony suggested to Morgan while he stood up and grabbed the outfit that Morgan picked out and then grabbed the package of underwear from the box. 

“Fine. I guess.” Morgan sighed and watched sadly as Tony walked away with Peter. 

“Bye bye.” Peter waved to her and Tony cooed. That was so adorable. 

Once they got upstairs, Tony opened the bathroom door and ushered Peter in. “Alright, I have your clothes here and I’ll be outside so let me know if you need help.” 

Peter looked up at him before Tony even made a move. “I need help. I don’ wan’ you to go.” 

“You want me to help you get dressed?” Tony asked him, trying to keep the smile off his face because Peter needed him and he wanted him to help him. 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh.” 

“Okay. Come back into the bedroom then.” Tony led Peter back into the bedroom and kneeled down in front of him to pull the oversized shirt off of him. 

He then pulled down the pants that were way too big and came off easily. He didn’t know how they didn’t fall off of him all morning, well, afternoon. 

Tony opened up the pack of underwear and unrolled them. “Do you wanna pick what one you wanna wear?” 

Peter bent down and looked at all the options. There were a bunch of planets on them but they were all different colours. Tony watched Peter’s face as he decided because he had a little grin on his face that was absolutely adorable. 

Peter picked up a red one and stood back up. “This one. It’s red.” 

Tony took it from him. “Yeah, your favourite colour.” 

“Yeah. I like it.” Peter said then held onto Tony’s shoulders as Tony held out the underwear for Peter to step into. He pulled it up to Peter’s waist and was happy to see that it fit him perfectly. He didn’t actually know what Peter’s size was when he ordered all the clothes but he was glad he got it right. 

It was a lot different from when he used to get Morgan dressed but Tony was just glad that he was no longer outnumbered by girls. He was happy that he had Peter on his team. 

Tony grabbed the track pants next and helped Peter get them on then he did the same with his blue shirt that had a train on it and looked absolutely adorable. 

“Do you wanna pick your socks too?” Tony asked him. 

“Yeah. I want ‘nother red one.” Peter grinned and grabbed a red pair of socks after Tony opened up the package. 

Tony put them on Peter’s ever so tiny feet and then stood up. “All done!” 

Peter giggled at what Tony said which was music to Tony’s ears. Peter was then lifted his arms up so Tony didn’t even hesitate as he lifted Peter up into his arms and set him on his hip. 

Tony couldn’t wait for Peter to be more vocal but he knew it was going to take a bit of time for him to get used to everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii I hope you guys liked that!! Guess what?! I might be getting a kitten soon ahhhhhh I’m sooo excited! Also I might be applying to a school in Hawaii so I really hope that works out:)


	5. I’m half a heart without you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter:) I hope you guys like this one!

Once they got back downstairs, Peter was kicking his legs to be placed on the floor so Tony let him go, laughing to himself since Peter only used him for a ride down the stairs. 

Peter walked towards Morgan and Pepper shyly then once Pepper saw him, she walked over to him and kneeled in front of him. “Look how cute you look, Peter.” 

Peter smiled and pointed at Tony. “Tony helped me get dressed and-and I pick red underwear and socks!” 

Pepper smiled up at Tony. “You helped him get dressed?” 

Tony nodded. “Yep. He asked me to help him so I did.” 

Pepper stood back up and went to go kiss Tony. “That’s so good. So you don’t think he’s in his teenage mindset?” 

Tony wrapped his arm around her waist. “Maybe still a little bit. He’s really quiet but I know that’s because he’s still getting used to everything.” 

Pepper pressed another kiss to Tony’s cheek and left his side. “I’m going to cook a late lunch slash dinner now.” 

Morgan stood up from where she was folding all of Peter’s clothes into piles and grabbed Peter’s hand. “Come, Peter, we can go play again.” 

Peter grabbed onto Morgan’s hand and held his other hand out for Tony then the three of them walked to the playroom but seconds later they were walking back. “I’m gonna put together Peter’s car seat while I’m in there and then can you help me bring in the other boxes so I can build those?” 

“Yeah. Just let me know.” Pepper said as she took out the chicken to let it thaw out. 

Tony picked up the car seat box and then followed his kids into the playroom again. 

“I wanna go down the slide.” Peter said to Morgan and Tony watched as he set the box down and sat down himself on the foam mats. Morgan helped Peter climb up the slide steps even though there were only three steps. She helped him sit down and then she ran around to the front of the slide to catch him. 

Peter giggled once he was in her arms. “That was fun! I do again!” 

“Okay, Peter. I’ll help you back up.” Morgan said and helped Peter climb back up the steps again. 

Tony continued to watch the two play together while he opened the box and pulled out the car seat. It was really big which he liked because that meant Peter would be safe in the car. 

He took all the plastic off and grabbed the cups that attached onto it. “Hey, Pete. Come check out your new car seat. Morg, can you bring him over?” 

“Yeah! Come, Peter. I’ll take you there.” Morgan said and then Tony looked up to see Morgan walking over while she carried Peter in her arms with Peter’s feet just barely dangling off the floor and Peter’s back to her chest, pretty much getting choked. 

“Be careful, Morg. You’re gonna hurt him if you carry him like that.” Tony warned her but once she put Peter down, he was fine and walked over to his side. 

“I wouldn’t hurt him, daddy. He’s my baby brother now so it’s my job to protect him.” Morgan sat on her knees in front of the car seat and then Peter walked over to her and sat down next to her in the same position. 

Tony felt his heart melting once again at how amazing of an older sister Morgan already was. She kept calling Peter her baby brother and treated him like he was a baby but he was okay with that. Also the fact that Peter was following her around now and copying her was adorable. 

“You’re so sweet, little miss. I’m so proud of you.” Tony tipped her chin forward and Morgan beamed at him. “Okay! Now, Peter, stand up and sit in your car seat then we’ll strap you in and see how you fit.” 

Peter stood up and sat down in the car seat with a huge smile on his face. Tony couldn’t help himself, he reached forward and pinched Peter’s chubby cheeks and then Peter was giggling. 

Morgan laughed and did the same thing as him and Peter pushed their hands away but was laughing. “Dad, I wanna buckle the straps up.” 

“How about I do that part and you unbuckle them just because I have to adjust it.” Tony said to her then pulled the buckle from between Peter’s legs and buckled him up with both kids watching with wide eyes. “Does that feel good? Nothings poking you?” 

“No, I wan’ see Morgan’s one.” Peter said and Tony froze because it was the first time Peter had said Morgan but it sounded more like ‘Moogin’. 

“Peter, I don’t have a car seat seat like yours. Mine just has a seatbelt and it’s pink! My favourite colour.” Morgan reached out and cupped a gentle hand on Peter’s cheek and smiled at him. “You’re so cute.” 

Peter grinned at her, his tiny baby teeth making an appearance. 

Tony was soaking up everything in that moment because he was witnessing his kids interacting for the first time and it was a beautiful sight to see. 

“Can I unbuckle him now?” Morgan asked, pulling Tony from his thoughts. 

“Yeah, okay so you press the red button and you see these pop out?” Tony explained. 

“Hey, you said I could do it.” Morgan complained once Tony did it. 

“You can, I’m just showing you.” Tony put the buckles back in. “You try but you have to put your hand behind the piece so you don’t push down and hurt him.” 

“Okay… like this?” She asked and Tony nodded so she continued until Peter was free. “Yay!” 

“Yay! You did it.” Peter clapped his hands together and stood up. 

“Now when we go for car rides I can put you in your car seat and take you out too.” Morgan explained and Peter was nodding his head. 

“Your turn. You go in and I put it on you.” Peter explained and tried to push Morgan into the car seat but she stopped him. 

“No. I’m too big. I’m nine, Peter. You’re only five.” Morgan explained to Peter and held up five fingers on her hand then helped Peter do the same. 

“Do you monkeys wanna help me and mommy?” Tony said but then realized that he just referred to Pepper as Peter’s mom as well but Peter wasn’t reacting. 

“Yeah! Let’s go, Peter!” Morgan grabbed Peter by the hand and started running up the steps but Peter couldn’t keep up with her and fell onto his stomach. “Oh no!” 

Tony felt his heart drop but he was immediately standing up and picking Peter up at well. “Are you okay, Pete?” 

Peter lifted his hand up to his face and then his face scrunched up before he broke out into tears and started crying loudly. 

“Oh, baby. Come here.” Tony lifted Peter into his arms and began rocking him back and forth to calm him. He was aware that Peter wasn’t crying because it hurt but he was crying out of shock and attention. He had already gone through his phase. 

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make him cry. I’m such a horrible big sister.” Morgan yelled but Tony was quick to use his free hand to hug her against his side. 

“No, Morg. It was an accident. You didn’t know.” 

Just then, Pepper came running in with a wooden spoon covered in sauce. “What happened?” 

“It’s okay. Morgan just ran too fast with Peter and he fell.” Tony explained and then Morgan wrapped her arms around Pepper's waist. 

“I hurt him, mommy! I didn’t mean to.” Morgan said in a panic. 

“Shh, it was an accident. It’s okay, little miss.” Pepper said to her to make her feel better. 

Tony kneeled down so he could put Peter on the floor. He tried to turn him so he could look at Morgan but he had his arms wrapped around Tony’s neck and his face buried in his chest. At least he was no longer crying. 

“Peter, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Morgan said then rubbed Peter’s back. Peter slowly pulled away from Tony and wiped his cheeks then reached forward to hug Morgan. 

As they hugged, Tony and Pepper watched them with wide eyes. It was such an adorable sight. 

“It’s okay.” Peter said and then after their hug, he went back to Tony’s side and tried to sit on his leg. 

“Morgan, can you watch your brother while we bring the rest of the boxes in from outside?” Tony asked as he stood up, lifting Peter into his arms again and placing him on his hip. 

“Yeah, I can.” 

Tony placed Peter back on his feet once they got outside onto the deck. Morgan was at his side immediately and grabbed onto his hand to hold while Tony and Pepper made three trips to the car and back to bring everything upstairs into what will soon be Peter’s bedroom. 

“Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.” Pepper announced right after Peter was back on his hip. 

“Okay! We’re going upstairs for twenty minutes to get everything else out of Peter’s bedroom. 

Once they got upstairs, Tony turned the light on and continued to hold Peter while he debated how he should design Peter’s bedroom. 

Since the room wasn’t needed at all before Peter, there was just one small bed inside with a few bins of winter clothes. That was it. 

They never had any guests come over and Morgan already had her bedroom so this room was useless until now. It was perfect for Peter as well since it was right across from their bedroom while Morgan’s was down the hall. 

“So, here’s the plan,” Tony started. “we’ll move all the bins into the hallway along with the bed and then we’ll start putting together the dressers and Pete’s new bed.” 

“Yes sir!” Morgan said in a deep voice as she started moving all the bins into the hallway. 

“Can I put you down, bud?” Tony asked Peter but he shook his head and laid it on Tony’s shoulder. “You tried, baby?” 

Peter nodded his head so Tony leaned his head against Peter’s. He could imagine how tired Peter would be since everything was still so new to him and he had just gotten back from being dusted. 

“Alright. Back to having one arm and multitasking then.” Tony said to no one but himself. He used to be an expert at this back when Morgan was a baby since he would always have to hold her to get her to sleep so everything he did was one handed. 

Once all the bins were out of the room, Morgan rushed back in. “Bug, can you help me lift the mattress off the bed so we can drag it into the hallway?” 

Morgan grabbed the opposite side and helped Tony lift it up and drag it into the hallway just as Pepper called them down for dinner. 

Peter was clinging tightly onto Tony’s side so he didn’t think he was going to be letting him go for dinner. 

Pepper smiled at the sight of the two of them but she didn’t say anything. She placed all the food onto the dining room table along with the glasses but she placed a sippy cup down for Peter then sat down. 

“It was so weird to make four plates.” Pepper said while she poured Morgan her own glass. 

“Mommy, me and daddy are going to build Peter’s bedroom after dinner.” Morgan explained as she took a bite of her broccoli. 

“I don’t know if we’ll have time tonight.” Tony said as he shifted Peter on his lap so he was facing the table. “It’s already late and you still have to get ready for bed.” 

“Aww. No fair.” Morgan whined. 

“I promise tomorrow we will. We got such a late start to the day today.” Tony promised her. He was excited to build the furniture tomorrow with his two babies. 

Tony cut up Peter’s chicken and held the fork out for him to take a bite which he did. “Dad, I wanna feed him.” 

Pepper laughed. “Not tonight, Maguna. You finish your food. There will be plenty more dinners.” 

Tony looked over at Pepper. “Our first dinner as a complete family.” 

Pepper smiled back at Tony but Tony didn’t have the chance to stare at his wife any longer because Peter was reaching for his sippy cup. Tony reached across the table and handed it to him then he started eating his own dinner while Peter was drinking. 

Peter held onto his sippy cup while he reached forward and picked up the chicken with his hand to eat. 

It was entertaining to watch but it didn’t last long because Peter’s eyes were falling closer and his head was falling forward. 

Tony grabbed the sippy cup out of his hands and turned him around so that Peter could lay his head on his shoulder and sleep while they finished eating. 

After dinner, Tony helped put all the dishes into the sink and clear the table off. No one would be doing any cleaning tonight. 

“Do you wanna pick out Peter’s pyjamas for him?” Tony asked Morgan before they headed upstairs. 

“Yeah. I wanna pick him something comfortable.” Morgan went over to the boxes of half folded clothes and grabbed blue and grey pyjamas that said I’m a dreamer on the top. 

“I love it.” Tony admitted and then they all headed upstairs. It was already past Morgan’s bedtime and way past what would be Peter’s bedtime but they had to fall into a schedule and that would take time. 

“I’m gonna help with Peter’s bath.” Morgan said and moved to grab a towel but Pepper stopped her. 

“Peter isn’t going to have a bath tonight because he’s already sleeping so daddy’s just going to change him into some pyjamas while you missy brush your teeth and get your pyjamas on.” Pepper kissed Morgan on the forehead then pushed her in the direction of the bathroom. 

She walked out into the bedroom and sat on the bed, handing Tony the pyjamas for Peter. 

Tony gently laid Peter onto the bed and hesitated. “Should I leave him in his clothes or change him? I don’t want him to wake up and freak out.” 

Pepper was digging through her nightstand table to find Morgan’s lavender hand cream but she paused to look up at Tony. “He won’t freak out, Tony. He’s probably not even going to wake up anyways.” 

That was true. Tony could see that Peter was out of it so he pulled off his pants and underwear and grabbed the pyjamas to roll up by the ankles so he could pull it up easier. He then carefully lifted Peter into a sitting position to take his shirt off and replace it with his pyjama shirt. 

Peter’s head was falling everywhere and it was painful for Tony’s neck to watch but it didn’t even wake Peter up so he must be really out of it. He picked Peter up again and laid him down in the middle of the bed. He wanted to keep Peter within arms reach at all times. 

Morgan walked back out of the bathroom and saw that Peter was in her parents bed. “I wanna sleep with you guys too.” 

“Morg, Peter’s sleeping with us since he doesn’t have a bed and daddy wants to keep him close tonight.” Pepper explained to her but she could still see that Morgan wasn’t happy. 

“Please. It’ll be like a fun sleepover.” Morgan looked up at her mom with puppy dog eyes. 

Pepper sighed and looked over at Tony so Tony gave in. “You can sleep with us but you have to actually sleep. No sillies.” 

“No sillies.” Morgan promised then climbed into bed on Peppers side and laid down next to Peter. “He’s so cute.” 

“He is. Can you watch him for me while I get ready for bed?” Tony asked her before going into the bathroom and shutting the door. 

He quickly got ready for bed and then he went into the bed to join his kids. He couldn’t believe he got to do that. Usually he was joining his one kid in bed and having nightmares about the other one but now he got to have both and he still didn’t know what he did to deserve it. 

Morgan was looking at Peter’s face since the five year old was turned to her but after Tony lied down, Peter must have sensed him there even in his sleep because he rolled away from Morgan and turned into Tony’s chest. 

“He loves you, daddy.” Morgan whispered. 

“You think so?” He asked her as he ran his fingers through Peter’s curls. 

“Yeah. I know so.” Morgan smiled at him and then they continued to stare at Peter until Pepper was getting out of the bathroom and joining them in bed. 

The family of four all drifted off to sleep pretty quickly while they watched their youngest sleep. Tony was the last one to actually shut his eyes just because he was still scared that this whole thing was a nightmare of some sort and that he was going to wake up and Peter would be gone. 

Tony didn’t even remember falling asleep. He was looking at his son and the next thing he knew was Morgan was waking him up. 

“Dad, wake up. Wake up, dad.” Morgan whispered and shook him awake. 

The first thing Tony did was open his eyes and check to see that Peter was still there which he was so he sighed with relief. It would take a lot to break that habit. 

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked her as he sat up in bed. He looked over at the clock and saw that it was 3:17am. 

“The beds all wet.” Morgan said. 

“What do you mean?” Tony asked and reached his hand over to feel where she was lying but it was dry. “It’s not, Morg.” 

“Yeah it is. By Peter.” Morgan explained and pointed to Peter so Tony reached his hand and felt under him and felt that it was wet. 

“Oh. You’re right.” Tony moved his hand away and thought about what to do for a second. They had taken the bed cover off after Morgan was potty trained and stopped sleeping with them but now they might have to put it back. 

“I can help you clean it up.” Morgan was already getting out of bed and it looked like all the sleep had drained from her face. 

“Thanks, bug. Can you go get me new sheets and pyjamas for Pete, please?” Tony got out of bed as well and tossed a pillow at Pepper. “Wake up.” 

Pepper immediately sat up and looked around. “What?” 

“Peter wet the bed. Morgan went to grab new sheets and pyjamas but we don’t have the bed lining anymore.” Tony explained to her as he pulled the blankets off of Peter and turned the bedroom lamp on to get some light. 

Pepper looked over at Peter sadly. “Aw, the poor baby. It’s okay. You take care of him and I’ll try to clean up the bed.” 

Tony gently shook Peter awake. “Hey, bud. Wake up for me.” Peter tried to bury his face into the pillow but Tony stopped him. “Open your eyes, Pete.” 

Peter did as he was told and started to rub the sleep out of his eyes but then he must have felt the wetness between his legs because his face scrunched up then his hand was moving down there. “All wet.” 

“I know, it’s okay.” Tony reassured him then Peter was lifting his arms up so Tony lifted him off the bed and set him on the floor just as Morgan walked in. 

“Here you go.” She handed Tony the pyjamas and then patted the top of Peter’s head. “It’s okay, Peter. Daddy will help you.” 

“Thanks, Morg.” Tony grabbed the clean pyjamas from Morgan and then took Peter into the bathroom to change him. 

“I-I sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Peter said quietly while Tony grabbed the package of wipes on top of the toilet and sat down on the closed toilet seat. 

“Hey, don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.” Tony cupped his cheek and went to go take his wet pants off but he paused. “Do you want me to help you?” 

“Uh huh.” Peter nodded his head then held onto Tony’s arms for support as Tony pulled down his pants and helped him step out of them. “They’re dirty now.” 

“Yeah,” Tony smiled at that as he grabbed a wipe. “they are. Here, use this to clean everywhere.” 

Peter looked down at the wipe and shook his head. “No. You do it.” 

Tony hesitated at first because he still wasn’t used to doing this with Peter and he would have already done it but he wasn’t sure what Peter was okay with just yet. 

He started to clean Peter but he flinched, “Cold.” 

“Sorry. Almost done.” Tony made quick work of cleaning him up and helped him change into the clean pyjama pants. 

When they walked back out into the bedroom with the freshly made bed. Peter walked over to it and Morgan helped him climb up. “We put towels under the sheet so it dries all the pee.” 

Peter looked at her. “All the pee?” 

“Yep.” Morgan gently pushed Peter so that he was lying down but Peter started whining and tried to sit up so he could reach for Tony. 

“It’s okay, Morgan. I’ll take him but thank you.” Tony lifted Peter off the bed and into his arms again. He felt Peter wrap his tiny arms around his neck and lay his head on his shoulder as he pulled back the blankets and got into bed with Peter lying on his chest. 

“No, don’ wanna sleep.” Peter sat up in bed but Tony pulled him back down only for Peter to pull away from him. “Don’ wan’ to sleep.” 

“Peter, you have to sleep.” Tony tried to lay Peter down again and this time he got him down but as soon as Peter’s head hit the pillow, Peter started crying. “Okay. I’m gonna take him downstairs while you guys fall asleep.” 

“Are you sure? Do you want me to come?” Pepper asked but Tony shook his head and got out of bed. 

“It’s okay, I got it. Come on, Peter.” Tony held his arms out for his kid and when Peter lifted his arms up to him, he pulled Peter up and held him on his hip. “You guys go to sleep.” 

Tony carried his crying kid out of his bedroom and shut the door behind him and went downstairs. Peter kept his head up and continued to cry while he watched Tony move around the kitchen. He grabbed a sippy cup and filled it with water to hopefully keep Peter quiet and calm him down. 

Once he had that, he brought Peter over to the sofa chair that rocked back and forth. He sat down, positioned Peter so that he was cradled in his arm like a baby and looked down at him. 

“What’s wrong, Peter?” Tony knew that Peter was overtired but refused to go to sleep much like his teenage self. 

“Not tired.” Peter cried out then rubbed his eyes and reached for the sippy cup in Tony’s hand. “Is it apple juice?” 

“No, baby.” Tony handed Peter the sippy cup and watched him take a few sips while he rocked back and forth. It didn’t take long for Peter’s eyes to start to close but Tony continued to rock him on the chair since it was also relaxing to him as well. It was the same chair that he used to rock Morgan on when she was a baby and sometimes they would still cuddle up on the chair together and read a book. 

Tony took the sippy cup from Peter only to have Peter put his thumb in his mouth and shove his face more into Tony’s chest. 

He stayed like that for a few more minutes before carrying Peter back to bed and falling asleep there. 

.  
.  
.

“Pick me up! Pick me up!” Peter demanded while Tony was trying to make breakfast for everyone. Despite the night they had, everyone was awake pretty early which kinda concerned Tony because bye bye to sleeping in till 9am since Peter was definitely going to be an early riser. 

They were all awake at 6:45am because once Peter woke up, he woke up Morgan and then the two of them woke Tony and Pepper up. 

So after Tony helped Peter get dressed into his clothes and Morgan went to her bedroom to do that, both Tony and Pepper took turns watching Peter so they could get ready then they all went downstairs. 

Now Tony was juggling making breakfast while Peter demanded to be held and Morgan set the kitchen island where they usually ate. 

“Okay, come here.” Tony lifted Peter up so now he was doing everything with one hand again. 

“Dad? After I wanna take Peter out to the swing.” Morgan said while she poured herself a glass of apple juice and then grabbed Peter’s sippy cup to pour him a glass too. 

“Yeah, we can do that. Peter hasn't been outside in the yard yet so we could go show him around after. Maybe take him on our hike through the forest.” Tony suggested while trying to flip the French toast and try to keep Peter from grabbing onto anything so he handed him a wooden spoon. 

“Yay! I’m so excited!” Morgan cheered. 

Once they were all sitting down on the stools, Tony went to place Peter on his own stool because he didn’t want to start any bad habits of Peter sitting on his lap for every meal, only he seemed to have already started that habit because Peter screamed when he placed him on his own stool. 

“No! I wanna stay with you.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s shirt and tugged him closer to himself. 

“Peter. I have to eat and so do you so just sit on this chair.” Tony said to him then yanked Peter’s hands off of him and placed him on the chair. 

Peter picked up his sippy cup and threw it into the counter so it rolled onto the floor. 

“I’ll go get it.” Morgan went to get off her chair but Tony stopped her. 

“No, leave it. If he wants it then he can go get it himself.” Tony said and looked at Peter who stopped crying and slid off of his chair to go walk around the island and grab his sippy cup. 

“Up.” Peter said to Tony so he picked Peter up and placed him on the stool since he was too small to get up himself. “I wanna sit on you now.” 

“No, eat your food, Pete.” 

“Peter, you can sit on my lap.” Morgan said and then Peter was looking over at her then moving to sit on her lap inside. 

Tony couldn’t be mad at the sight. It was so cute to watch them together but Peter was sitting uncomfortably on Morgan’s lap. 

“How are you going to eat now, little miss?” Pepper asked, amused. 

“Oh.” Was all Morgan said so Tony held his arms out for Peter. He definitely lost this fight but he didn’t really care. “Go to daddy, Peter.” 

Tony looked over at Pepper to see how she reacted because Morgan referred to him as Peter’s daddy and Peter even turned to him and crawled over his chair to sit on his lap. 

He didn’t want to react to it though since it wasn’t like Peter was the one calling him daddy, he wasn’t sure if Peter ever would. 

After they were done eating, Morgan helped Peter off of Tony’s lap and grabbed his sippy cup for him. “It’s time to put Peter in the outside swing.” 

“Is it a big swing?” Peter asked and grabbed onto Morgan’s hand. 

“No, it’s a baby swing but I’m too big for it.” Morgan explained to him. 

Tony and Pepper left the dishes for now since they didn’t want to waste time doing that when they had two kids to play with. 

They all headed outside with no shoes or coats on since it was warm enough and that’s usually how they went outside. They didn’t have to worry about neighbours or anyone watching them since the whole property was private. 

Peter kept glancing back to make sure that Tony was still walking with them when they walked down the steps of the deck and walked towards the set of trees in the middle of the field. 

Peter glanced back at Tony one more time and smiled at him before he was giggling and running ahead with Morgan. 

Tony watched his two kids run ahead of him and he swears that he’s had this exact same dream once upon a time. The only difference was that he wouldn’t wake up from this one. 

Tony put his arm around Pepper and brought her close to his side to press a kiss to her temple. “What’s that for?” She asked him. 

“Just because.” Tony answered her then let go and walked ahead to be closer to where Morgan was showing Peter the green swing with a bright yellow bar. “Do you like the swing, Pete?” 

Peter looked up at Tony and nodded. “Yeah! I wanna go in.” 

“Okay, hold on.” Tony lifted Peter up and held him with one arm while he lifted up the yellow bar then sat Peter in the swing and made sure he was strapped in properly. 

“I wan’ Morgan to push me!” Peter yelled excitedly and grabbed onto the yellow bar as he kicked his legs back and forth. 

“Okay! Hold on!” Morgan walked behind Peter and pushed the swing but he didn’t go that high even after a few swings.

“I wan’ higher!” Peter giggled out and kicked his feet more which was making it harder for Morgan to push him. 

“Dad, can you push him?” She asked and switched spots with Tony so that she could stand in front of Peter. 

“Alright,” Tony grabbed the back of the swing and held it back so Peter was pointed towards the ground. “do you want to go really high, Peter?” 

Peter screamed. “Yeah! All the way high!” 

“Okay!” Tony let go of the swing and gave him a push as well then Peter was swinging and screaming mixed with laughing which caused everyone else to laugh along with him. 

Tony continued to push Peter on the swing even after his arms got tired because he loved the sound of giggles that escaped Peter’s mouth. 

“I go off now.” Peter said once Tony slowed down. Tony walked around to the front to grab the yellow part so he could slow the swing down and then he lifted the bar up to grab Peter. “Is it the ocean?” 

Tony placed Peter on his feet and looked up to see where he was pointing at and then laughed, “No, bud. It’s a lake. We can go swimming in it later if everyone wants to.” 

“Yes! That’s gonna be so much fun.” Morgan hugged Tony around the waist in her excitement. 

Peter watched her but shook his head. “I don’ know how to swim.” 

“I can find Morgan’s old life jacket for him since Morgan doesn’t need it anymore.” Pepper said and hugged Morgan when she walked over to her. 

“Yeah, either way we’ll be there to watch them but he doesn’t have a bathing suit.” Tony picked Peter up and held him close to his chest while they walked down to the lake. “What do you say, Pete, you gonna swim in your birthday suit?” 

Peter laughed and shyly buried his face into Tony’s chest. “No. That’s funny.” 

“That’s funny? Do you even know what that is, mr?” Tony poked Peter on the side to get a bunch of giggles out of him while Morgan and Pepper laughed at them. 

Peter lifted his head up and placed his hands on Tony’s shoulders. “I don’ know but I’m gonna eat you if you poke me ‘gin.” 

“Oh really? I guess I’ll have to fill you up with something else then poke you so you’re too full to eat me.” Tony joked with the five year old who was shaking his head with a grin on his face. “No? Not gonna work?” 

“No. Not gonna work.” Peter repeated so Tony kissed him on the nose then placed him on his feet. 

“Peter, it’s deep so you have to hold my hand if you want to go near the water.” Morgan grabbed Peter's hand and then walked him down the mini hill then to the flat muddy area that led into the water. “When we go swimming later all of this gets really muddy.” 

Peter squatted down and slapped the mud with his hand. “We can make mud pies and eat ‘dem after.” 

“Yeah!” Morgan smiled over at Tony. “Daddy, can we finish building Peter’s bedroom set now?” 

“That’s a good idea. You guys can do that while I clean up the house a bit and get lunch ready.” Pepper suggested since she had to wash a bunch of clothes because she knew her and Tony would have a ton of clothes to wash with a five year old boy in the house now and she wanted to get on top of it. 

“Okay, let's go in before you guys get too messy.” Tony said and then the four of them went back into the house. 

Once they got inside the house, Morgan ran to the stairs and waited by it immediately. Tony went to walk upstairs with her but Peter squatted on the floor and looked up at Tony. 

“I need to poo.” Peter said but Tony already knew what he was doing before Peter even said anything. 

“Okay. Let’s not go here.” Tony picked Peter up and quickly took him into the bathroom. He placed Peter in front of the toilet and pulled down his pants then lifted him onto the toilet. 

He let go of Peter but Peter fell into the bowl and let out a surprised sound so Tony was quick to pick him back up and hold him up while he went poo. He would say it was awkward but it wasn’t at all since he already went through this with Morgan and knew it was a part of parenting. 

Since the door wasn’t closed, Morgan walked into the bathroom and looked at Peter. “Did he fall in?” 

“Yeah, can you go get me the wipes from our bathroom, bug?” Tony asked her and then watched her run off. 

After Tony was sure Peter was done, he asked him. “Are you done?” 

“Uh huh.” 

“No more poop?” Tony asked, then thought about the last time he asked someone that. It must have been years ago. 

“All gone.” Peter reassured him so Tony lifted him up so he was on his feet. Morgan walked in and handed Tony the wipes. 

“Thank you.” He took them, pulled one out and handed it to Peter but Peter shook his head. “Wipe your butt, Pete.” 

Peter shook his head again. “You do it.” 

Tony didn’t want to compare Peter with how Morgan was at his age but he did know that at age five you should be wiping your own butt but couldn’t remember exactly. 

He didn’t want to argue with Peter about this since he didn’t actually know how stubborn Peter would be. That would come in time. “Alright, hold your shirt up.” 

Tony started wiping Peter’s butt but then Morgan walked over and was watching him. “Morg, what are you doing?” 

“I’m watching so I know how to do it when I wipe Peter’s bum.” Morgan explained like it was obvious. 

Tony rolled his eyes and grabbed a new wipe. “No, Peter should be wiping his own butt.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. You do it.” 

“Next time I’m not.” Tony tossed the wipe into the toilet and flushed it then pulled up Peter’s underwear and pants and stood up to wash his hands. 

Peter went to walk out of the bathroom but Tony stopped him. “Hey, come wash your hands.” 

Peter stood in front of the sink but he couldn’t reach it so Tony picked him up and helped him wash his hands before putting him back on the floor. He definitely had to make the house more accessible for five years olds again. 

Tony walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to grab a drink for the kids and himself. Pepper smiled at him. “Were you guys having a party in there?” 

“What age did Morgan start wiping her own butt at?” Tony asked without even realizing how weird that question was. 

“Um, around four or five I believe. She used to get mad when we would try to help her, remember?” Pepper laughed at the memory. “Why?” 

“Peter doesn’t want to do it himself.” Tony explained then handed Peter his sippy cup from where he was standing by his feet. “We also need to buy potty seats again because Peter fell into the toilet. Oh and we need to get step stools too.” 

“I’ll put it on the list.” Pepper said to Tony but Morgan was pulling on his hand. 

“Dad. Let’s go.” Morgan whined so Tony handed her her reusable water bottle and let her pull him upstairs with Peter to go put together Peter’s bedroom set.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this fic sooo much omg! I feel so guilty because I haven’t written it in a few days since I’m trying to finish one of my fics that I don’t really like anymore so I’m writing that one non stop sadly but I’m definitely gonna start writing this one again a bit later:) 
> 
> These are the pyjamas that Peter was wearing: 
> 
> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61jy%2BrZieEL._UX679_.jpg
> 
> This is the swing set: 
> 
> https://www.terraboundsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/high-back-infant-swing-green-300x300.jpg
> 
> Peter has a bunch of sippy cups but this was one of them used in this chapter: 
> 
> https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/ef4f4fb2-67d4-4901-bf18-13f1beb15f0c_1.7c97617ab5847f6e9c79fc5dc90e8f58.jpeg
> 
> Peter’s car seat: 
> 
> https://s.yimg.com/aah/albee-baby/evenflo-everystage-dlx-all-in-one-convertible-car-seat-reefs-8.jpg
> 
> Morgan’s car seat: 
> 
> https://www.safekids.org/ultimate-car-seat-guide/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/HIGH-BACK-BOOSTER-right-fit-solaris-JE.jpg


	6. The other half of me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter:) I’m currently writing chapter 11 now so I’m excited to start doing that after I post this

“This piece goes there.” Morgan told Peter but Peter pulled the piece of wood away from her. 

“No. I do it.” Peter tried to put the piece in the wrong spot and Tony knew it was but he didn’t say anything because he wanted Peter to figure it out for himself but Morgan was taking control. 

“It doesn’t go there, Peter. It doesn’t fit.” Morgan grabbed the wood from Peter and had him falling back then he started crying and crawled over to Tony. 

Tony pulled Peter onto his lap and rubbed his back while he looked at Morgan who was now putting the piece in the right place. “Morgan, that wasn’t very nice. You could have helped Peter instead of taking it from him.” 

“He was too slow. I’m just trying to build it by myself and he’s getting in the way.” Morgan said then grabbed the screwdriver and started screwing the piece into place. 

If there was one thing that Morgan got from him it was his stubbornness once he started a project. Both of them didn’t want anyone to help out or bug them until it was done. 

“Morgan, put the screwdriver down and say sorry to Peter.” Tony shifted Peter on his lap so he was facing Morgan. 

“Fine.” Morgan tossed the screwdriver down and turned to Peter. “I’m sorry.” 

Peter kicked his leg out at her. “No.” 

“Peter, she’s trying to help you.” Tony said to him but Peter was shaking his head and still letting out the occasional cry. 

“I can build it without his help anyways. Not like he was doing much to help me anyways.” Morgan mumbled out as she continued to screw the piece into place. 

“Morgan. Enough.” Tony warned then reached forward to grab the tool from her. 

“Hey! I was using that.” 

“Not anymore. Help Peter with something.” Tony raised his eyebrows at her when she glared at him but she was sighing and standing up. 

“Come, Peter. I’ll show you where the other drawer goes.” Morgan helped Peter stand up and led him over to the area where they were making all the drawers. “You have to follow the instructions but me and dad are so good so we don’t need to. You might need to though.” 

“Morgan.” Tony warned without looking up. 

She didn’t answer but he knew she heard him. He listened to Morgan explain everything to Peter while he was building the nightstand table. 

“I do it first.” Peter said and grabbed the hammer out of Morgan’s hands. 

“Stop it, Peter. You’re not allowed. Only I am.” Morgan grabbed the hammer back from Peter but then Peter grabbed her arm and started biting her. “Oooww!” 

Tony looked up once he heard Morgan scream and immediately got up to pull Peter off of her. “Let go, Peter. We do not bite.” 

Peter let go of Morgan’s arm and then she pulled her arm protectively to her chest. “Are you okay, Morg?” 

She held her arm out for Tony to see but it was just a bite mark. The skin didn’t even break but Tony guessed that it would bruise later. “I’m okay.” 

Tony kneeled down in front of Peter so they were face to face. “Peter, you don’t bite people. That’s not what we do.” 

Peter’s face scrunched up and he started crying and threw himself onto the floor so Tony sighed. He saw the hammer that Morgan was still holding and grabbed it out of her hands to put it on the shelf. He then lifted Peter’s limp body into his arms and walked out of the room. 

“We’re taking a break because Peter isn’t in the mood right now.” Tony said but the truth was that he wasn’t either because Peter and Morgan weren’t getting along for obvious reasons. Morgan wanted to have all the control and didn’t want any help while Peter wanted to be a part of it but was too young to help. 

Tony carried a crying Peter downstairs and dropped him onto the couch so he could go into the kitchen with Pepper. 

“What’s wrong with Peter?” She asked Tony but he didn’t get a chance to answer because Peter was running over to him and screaming at him to be lifted into his arms. 

Tony picked him up and looked at him but Peter just cried and stared at him. 

“He sounds tired, Tony. Maybe you should put him down for a nap.” Pepper suggested and then looked over at Peter and saw his sad face. 

“Do you wanna go for a nap, Peter?” Tony asked him and Peter was nodding his head. 

“Y-yeah!” He cried out but still continued to cry. Tony transferred him onto his hip so he was holding him with one arm. 

“It’s twelve now. How long should I let him sleep for?” Tony asked Pepper. He had no idea since they still hadn’t developed a schedule yet and as much as Tony knew teen Peter and all his needs, five year old Peter was a whole other story that couldn’t be compared so no, he didn’t know this Peter and all his needs just yet. 

“Um, I’d give it until one.” Pepper suggested so Tony was off upstairs to go put Peter down for a nap. 

He walked into his and Peppers bedroom and closed the curtains so it was dark then he walked over to the bed and laid Peter down. 

Peter was hiccuping sadly now, “I wan’- I wan’ teddy bear.” 

Tony ran his fingers through his hair. “You want a teddy bear?” 

Peter nodded. “Yeah, I need it.” 

“Um, do you want to go pick one of Morgan’s?” Tony asked him and Peter was nodding and lifting his arms up so Tony picked him back up and went downstairs. 

Pepper raised her eyebrows at him but he only shrugged then walked into the playroom. He bent down so Peter could pick out a teddy bear and watched as his five year old slowly dug through the pile in the corner. 

He would pick one up and look at it then either push it to the side or hug it to his chest to see how cuddly it was. Tony didn’t say anything because the sight was adorable but also because he had a feeling that this teddy bear would be Peter’s for a long time. 

Peter then picked up a rather ugly looking teddy bear and hugged it to his chest then turned around to look at Tony. 

“Is that the one?” With a nod on his head, Tony picked Peter back up and walked out of the playroom and down the hall. 

Pepper looked back at him with a smile on her face once she saw Peter with the teddy bear but she couldn’t look at him for long since Tony was going back upstairs and back into his bedroom. 

He laid Peter back on the bed and covered him with the blankets then laid down next to him. “Close your eyes, Petey.” 

Peter stuck his thumb in his mouth and turned towards Tony before letting his eyes shut. 

Tony stayed with him even after he knew Peter was asleep. He wasn’t sure if this whole nap thing would be a temporary situation or if it was what Peter would need until he gets a little bit older. Either way, Tony was okay with whatever Peter needed because it meant he had his kid back. 

He pressed a kiss to Peter’s hair and then got off the bed and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. He knew Peter didn’t need it and he didn’t need to get it for him but Tony wanted to buy a baby monitor for his kids bedroom just so when Peter starts sleeping without him then he’ll feel better knowing that his kid is okay. 

When he went downstairs, he sat next to Morgan who was eating lunch at the kitchen table. “Hey, bug.” 

“Hi dad. Is Peter in timeout?” Morgan asked him with her mouth full. 

“No, I put him down for a nap.” Tony answered her. He could go for a nap himself, since he was up for a lot of the night with Peter, he wasn’t feeling all that awake but it wasn’t the first time. He had spent days awake in his lab before Peter and then he spent days awake after Peter because he was too scared to fall asleep and have more nightmares about him. 

“Are you hungry?” Pepper asked him while she filled a bowl up with soup. 

“I’ll wait to eat when Peter gets up.” Tony got up to make himself a coffee but he didn’t want to let Peter eat by himself after he got up. 

“Alright. We should set up a schedule though. If he needs a nap at twelve till one then we should eat lunch at eleven.” Pepper joined Morgan on the kitchen stools 

“Yeah, it’ll be nice to have a schedule set up.” Tony admitted then took a huge sip of his coffee, burning his mouth. 

“We’ll get there.” 

Morgan got off the chair to put her bowl and cup in the sink. “Can we finish building the dresser and bed now since Peter is sleeping?” 

“Sure. Let’s go.” Tony and Morgan headed upstairs and walked into Peter’s bedroom, shutting the door. “We have to be quiet though since Peter is sleeping in my room.” 

“Okay. We’ll whisper.” 

Tony was content. It was nice to spend time with his daughter since he knew it’s only been two days but he hasn’t given Morgan any one on one time with her which she’s been a champ about so far but it was only a matter of time before she started to act out for some of the attention too since Peter joining their family was so unexpected and new. 

“Hey, Morg?” Tony asked from where he was putting the drawer in the finished nightstand table. 

“Yeah?” 

“What do you think about Peter?” Tony asked, curiously. He knew she liked him but he wanted to hear her say it. 

“I love him. He’s my baby brother and even though you and mom always said that he was my older brother, I like it better this way.” Morgan was smiling the whole time and you could hear the smile in her voice. 

“You like it better?” Tony wanted to clarify and Morgan was nodding happily. “I like it better too. Of course I miss my boy as a teen but he’ll get there eventually.” 

“Yeah, but this time we get to play with him.” Morgan said, matter of fact. 

“That’s true. Hey, look. His nightstand table is complete.” Tony stood up so he could flip the table onto its legs and admire his work. 

“Woah. It looks so nice. I can’t wait until he sees it.” Morgan said excitedly. 

Pepper opened the door and walked in with a laundry hamper filled with Peter’s clothes. “Hi you guys. I washed all of Peter’s clothes so that they’re fresh for him to wear.” 

Pepper set down the basket on the ground and walked over to the nightstand table. “Woah, this looks amazing.” 

“Peter’s gonna love it. Don’t you think so, daddy?” Morgan asked. 

“I know so.” 

“Well I’m gonna bring the bedsheets and pillowcases up after they’re done washing and then we have to put the comforter on the bed.” Pepper announced as she left the bedroom. 

Tony and Morgan continued to build the dresser and since they made a pretty good team, they finished it in no time. The dresser was a lot bigger than Tony thought it would be. Peter would be able to open the top drawer but he wouldn’t be able to look inside so that meant Tony would have to bolt the dresser to the wall so Peter didn’t step on the drawer and have it fall on him. 

“It looks so pretty. I’m gonna go get mom to show her.” Morgan announced and then she left the bedroom. 

She was going to run downstairs but then she passed by her parents bedroom and couldn’t help but go peek inside to look at her brother sleeping. 

Morgan ever so carefully opened the bedroom door and walked into the room. The light from the hallway shined in so that she could make out Peter laying in bed. As she got closer, she could see that his eyes were open. 

“Peter?” She whispered. 

Peter smiled at her and sat up. “It’s all wet.” 

Morgan tilted her head in confusion. “What’s all wet?” 

Peter tried to kick the blankets off and point down to his pants. “It’s all wet.” He repeated. 

Morgan pulled back the blankets and saw the wet patch so she held her arms out for Peter like she’s seen her dad do so many times. “I’ll help you change. Come here.” 

Peter crawled over to her and held his arms out so she could pick him up. Morgan struggled to lift him off the bed but once he was on the floor, Peter tried to get her to pick him up again. 

“We need to get you clean clothes first. Come with me.” Morgan led Peter into the hallway and then onto the bedroom where his clothes were. 

Tony looked up in surprise when he saw Morgan bringing Peter into the room but then he saw Peter’s wet pants. 

“I was just going to check on him but he was already awake and wanted me to help him.” Morgan explained then started to grab clean clothes out of the hamper. 

Tony smiled at how sweet Morgan was and then held his arms out for Peter who was stepping over the pieces of wood to get to him. “Hi baby. Let’s go get you cleaned up.” 

Peter nodded against him so Tony lifted him into his arms, not caring about Peter’s wet pants. He’s had worse on him. 

He took the clothes that Morgan so helpfully grabbed for him and then carried Peter into his bathroom but Morgan was following behind him. “Morgan, do you want to go finish up the bed frame while I quickly change Peter?” 

“No, I wanna help you.” Morgan said and even shut the bathroom door so Tony didn’t kick her out. She looked up at Tony with big eyes, daring him to kick her out. 

“Alright. That’s fine.” Tony didn’t think that Peter even cared anymore. He was definitely fully in his five year old mindset and Tony couldn’t help but wonder if everyone else who came back was too. 

He wasn’t paying any attention to the news, he stopped obsessing about what was going wrong in the world after it wasn’t his problem anymore. He had kids that he needed to focus on. 

“Can you grab the wipes?” Tony asked Morgan then pulled down Peter’s track pants and underwear and helped him step out of them. 

“I’ll put these in the dirty laundry.” The nine year old said and went to do that while Tony did what he did last night and wiped Peter clean. He then grabbed the clean clothes that Morgan brought in and helped Peter get his underwear and pants on. 

“I still really tired.” Peter said, rubbing his eyes and yawning. 

Tony checked the time on his watch. It was 1:15pm so it was too late for another nap even if Peter didn’t have a full hour. 

“You’ll just have to go to bed super early tonight, okay?” Tony stood up to wash his hands then he felt Peter hug his legs and he cooed. He definitely missed this age. “Come on, little monkey. You hungry?” 

Tony lifted Peter into his arms and Peter nodded. “Uh huh. I eat a dinosaur!” 

“A dinosaur? Do you think Peter can eat a dinosaur, Morgan?” Tony asked her as she walked beside them on the way down the hall. 

“I think so.” She laughed. 

Peter looked down at Morgan and put his arms in front of him like a T- Rex. “Roar! I eat everything!” 

Tony tried not to reach out and pinch Peter’s cheeks but it was hard not to do since Peter was being so freaking cute. 

They got to the bottom of the stairs and Pepper turned to them to smile at Peter in Tony’s arms once again. “Did you sleep well, Peter?” 

Morgan jumped onto the kitchen stool. “Peter went pee in the bed again.” 

“Oh, did he?” Pepper looked over at Tony with a frown. 

“Yeah. He did so I’m thinking we need to add pull-ups to that list as well.” Tony mentioned as he sat down on the stool with Peter in his lap. 

“Alright. Well we can drive to the shop after you guys eat lunch to get that stuff.” Pepper grabbed two bowls and filled it with the soup then placed them in front of the two boys. 

“Do you wanna go today?” Tony asked her. It would be their first time leaving the house with Peter and putting him in a car with everyone so it’ll be an interesting trip. 

“Is his car seat set up?” 

“Yeah, I just have to put it in the car.” Tony knew that part would take less than a minute so they were set. 

“Okay. So we’ll leave after lunch.” Pepper announced and Morgan cheered. 

“Yay! We’re going for a car ride with Peter!” Morgan turned to look at Peter. “Peter, you’re gonna love the car ride. It’s so much fun.” 

Peter looked over at Morgan and grinned. “When I drived here before I was sleepin’.” 

“Why?” Morgan asked. 

“Mm maybe I was just tired but now I’m not.” Peter explained then took another bite of his soup and spilled more of it down the front of his shirt. 

“You’ve got more on your shirt than you have in your belly.” Tony laughed at Peter and poked him in the stomach. 

Peter giggled and arched his back against Tony’s chest but then Morgan was grabbing his spoon from him. “It’s okay. I’ll feed Peter.” 

Tony wasn’t sure why Peter was letting Morgan feed him. It was so weird since at Peter’s age, Morgan was so independent and wanted to do everything by herself. Even if she physically couldn’t because she was too small, she would find a way to make it work and that was so amazing to watch but none of them ever got any proper cuddles from her since she was always up and doing something and never wanted to be held. 

Peter was different. Tony could already tell, even from knowing his teenage self, Peter was extremely cuddly and liked to cling onto anyone who was willing to give him physical affection. 

His five year old self was the exact same but now he was letting someone feed him even though Tony knew he was perfectly capable of doing that himself. “How about you let him feed himself, Morg.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. She feeds me then I don’ spill.” 

Tony rolled his eyes and looked over at Pepper. 

After lunch was done and Peter was changed for the third time that day, they were all getting ready to leave the house but that was taking twice as long with Peter. 

“I wanna bring my bear with me.” Peter said and tried to run away from Tony who grabbed his new shoes and tried to get them on Peter. 

“No, you don’t need your bear.” Tony grabbed Peter’s hand and tried to pull him over to the front door but Peter was still trying to get away. 

“I’ll get him for you.” Morgan went to go run away but Pepper stopped her. 

“No, Morgan. Come back, he doesn’t need his bear.” Pepper handed Morgan her shoes when the nine year old walked back over. 

“I want him! I want him!” Peter yelled as Tony sat him on the floor and grabbed his shoes. 

“Your bear is sleeping. He doesn’t want to come.” Tony told Peter as he was putting one of his shoes on. 

“Why he sleeping?” Peter asked and stopped trying to get away so Tony took advantage of that and quickly put his other shoe on. 

“Because he’s so tired so we have to let him sleep.” Tony finished putting Peter’s shoes on so he then stood up to get his own shoes on. 

“But then he won’ go sleep tonight. He gonna go up all night.” Peter stood up and exclaimed. 

“Well then we’ll just have to tire him out tonight. Do you need to pee before we go?” Tony asked and then looked over at Pepper and Morgan who were already ready. 

“Oh yeah. I forgot.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand and started leading him towards the bathroom. Tony rolled his eyes at Peter for not going by himself but he didn’t say anything. 

Once they got into the bathroom, Peter turned towards Tony and lifted up his shirt, waiting for the man to do something. 

“What are you doing?” Tony asked him. 

“Help me.” Peter struggled to pull his pants down and Tony watched him for a few seconds before kneeling down to tug down Peter’s pants and underwear then led him to stand in front of the toilet.

“Can you reach?” Tony double checked to see if he could reach and he could but he still wasn’t going. “Go pee, bud.” 

“I sit down.” Peter looked up at Tony desperately. 

“You don’t need to, Pete. Just go pee.” Tony pushed him gently towards the toilet but Peter pushed back. 

“No. Lift me up on toilet.” Peter reached up for Tony and looked at him with wet eyes. 

“On the toilet, Pete.” Tony corrected him but lifted him onto the toilet anyways. Peter calmed down immediately which was a good thing but Tony didn’t understand why Peter couldn’t just stand up. 

Peter started to pee but it was going all over his pants instead of inside the toilet. “Pete, you have to point yourself down.” 

“Oh.” Peter tried to but it was too late because his pants were in need of another change now. “All done.” 

“Well you didn’t get any of that into the toilet.” Tony laughed, defeated. Peter tried to look inside the toilet as if he could see the lack of pee in there. 

“It’s on my pants.” Peter pointed to his pants to show Tony. 

“I know.” Tony had to take Peter’s shoes off so he could take the wet pants and underwear off of Peter once again and called out. “Morgan? Can you bring Peter more pants and underwear, please?” 

“Yeah!” Tony heard Morgan say then running up the stairs. 

Pepper walked to the bathroom and looked inside. “What happened?” 

Tony lifted Peter off of the toilet and onto the floor. “Do you wanna tell Pep, Pete?” 

“My pee pee went on my pants.” Peter explained to Pepper. 

She laughed at the innocence of the situation then moved aside to let Morgan into the bathroom. “Here you go, daddy. I can help Peter.” 

“I’ll help him with his underwear but you can help him with his pants.” Tony took the underwear from Morgan and helped Peter into it once again. He was glad that Peter didn’t care about the fact that he literally had an audience watching him get dressed. 

“Okay, Peter, step into it.” Morgan held out the pant leg for Peter and he grabbed onto her for support but he kept falling over since Morgan was struggling to get his leg through it. 

“I’m falling over. If I fall in toilet I fall on all the pee pee.” Peter laughed at himself but then Morgan yanked his leg and almost fell over but Tony grabbed onto his arm. 

“Okay, I’ll finish putting his pants on while you go get the car seat from the playroom, okay?” Tony took the pants from Morgan so they could leave faster since they were still trying to leave after over thirty minutes. 

“Let’s go, little lady.” Pepper and Morgan both left the bathroom so then Tony had Peter’s pants on in seconds followed by his shoes. He lifted him into his arms so no more distractions would happen on the way from the bathroom to the car. 

“We got his car seat, dad.” Morgan announced as she helped Pepper carry the car seat. 

They left the house and went to the car where they would take most of their car trips in. It was a black Audi suv which was Tony’s favorite of all his cars. Not that he had a lot of cars at his house but it would still outwin every car. 

“I’m gonna put you on the ground, Pete, so no running.” Tony warned and set Peter on his feet. That was one thing that he was really worried about with Peter since he didn’t actually know what he would be like in public. 

Peter started running but stopped at the start of the grass which was only five feet away from Tony. He pointed excitedly to the swing. “I wanna go on the swing ‘gin.” 

“Later, Pete. Look, everyone is getting in the car so come here.” Tony grabbed the latch of the car seat and hooked it onto the car tether. 

“I wanna see.” Peter tried to push Tony’s legs so he could look at what he was doing. 

“Come, Peter.” Pepper picked Peter up and held him on her hip so Tony had a chance to put the car seat into the car. She walked around to Morgan’s side of the car which was behind the passenger seat. “Say hi, Morgan.” 

“Hi Morgan. I sit here with you.” Peter pointed to his car seat that Tony was struggling to get hooked up properly. 

“I can’t get this fu-” Tony cut himself off but Morgan heard exactly what he was going to say. 

“You were gonna swear, daddy!” Morgan caught him. 

“No. I wasn’t.” Tony got the latch to hook onto the last car tether and smacked the seat in excitement. “Yes! Finally!” 

Peter and Morgan were both clapping their hands together excitedly. “Yay! You did it.” Peter cheered. 

“Come here, baby.” Tony grabbed Peter from Pepper’s arms after she walked back around the car. “Let’s see how you look in this monstrosity of a car seat.” 

He placed Peter in the seat and made sure to get his arms through the straps and properly buckle him up then he took a step back to admire his work. Peter was grinning at him widely so he couldn’t help but take his phone out and take a few pictures of him. 

Pepper got into the front passenger seat and looked back at Tony and Peter and then Morgan was leaning over so Tony took a picture of three of his favourite people in the world and then stared down at the picture. 

He could cry from looking at it. Peter was in the picture which is what made everything complete and took away the constant pain that he had in his chest for ten years straight. 

“What’s wrong, Daddy.” Peter asked and Tony felt his heart stop beating. 

He looked up from the picture on his phone to see Peter’s big brown eyes staring up at him. He felt his eyes tear up and the sudden need to cry. 

“Nothing, baby. I love you so much.” Tony leaned into the car so he could hug Peter the best he could with the five year old in his car seat and then he pressed a bunch of kisses to his face. “I love you.” 

Peter giggled at the attack on his face, having no idea what his innocent question did to Tony. 

Tony smiled at Peter and shut the back door so he could get into the front seat of the car. He looked down at the phone in his hand and looked at the picture. Two big brown eyes were staring back at him and that’s all he could focus on. 

“You okay?” Pepper asked him. She leaned her head against the seat and turned to him with a smile on her face. 

He looked over at her and smiled back. “I’m perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh Peter called Tony daddy first the first time omg! Also damn Morgan, she was being a typical older sibling in this chapter for a bit there 
> 
> Peter’s teddy bear. I was looking through pics to find the perfect one but nothing was giving me any vibes but then I found this one and ahhhh: 
> 
> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81GGR4ZPZ0L._AC_SX679_.jpg
> 
> The car: 
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/23/b2/b823b2e3ea39bb0f14ad443569c2ddf1.jpg


	7. You’re something beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii guys! Do you like my new profile pic?   
> This chapter is a bit short but I am trying to make the new ones longer

Tony turned away from Pepper and started the car. 

He checked the rearview mirror to see Peter’s face light up once the engine roared to life. If someone had told him just a week ago that this is what his life would be like, he would have punched them in the face for playing with his emotions and hitting him right where it hurts the most but now, this was his life. 

Peter’s big eyes were staring back at him and it just didn’t seem one bit real. 

“Dad, put on Frozen.” Morgan leaned forward on her seat to say. 

“Do you wanna build a snowman!” Peter screamed excitedly and brought his legs up to his chest and bounced in his seat. 

Morgan looked over at Peter with a huge smile on her face. “Peter knows Frozen too!” 

“Yeah.” Tony laughed and felt the tears burn his eyes again because of the memories hitting him hard. Peter used to come over to the tower and demand to watch Frozen with him almost every night for a month straight. “Alright. Here we go.” 

The first song started playing which was Frozen Heart but that one always scared Morgan for some reason so Tony automatically pressed the second song on the track which was- 

“Do you wanna build a snowman!” Peter yelled excitedly again once it started playing. 

Everyone was singing along to the song but Tony just enjoyed hearing his family singing all together. It was so beautiful. 

By the time they arrived at the store, Tony didn’t think the sound of his family singing wasn’t so beautiful anymore because Peter had requested to play the song over and over again and each time he seemed to get louder until he was singing in a high pitched voice and it hurt his ears. 

“Okay, we’re here. Car off.” Tony quickly put the car in park and shut it off, killing the music. 

“Aww! I wanted it louder!” Peter whined very loudly. 

“It’s okay, Peter. Daddy will play it for us on the ride home.” Morgan reassured Peter but it did little to make Tony feel better. 

He got out of the car and opened up the back seat to grab Peter. “Hi Petey.” 

Peter was grinning at him and tucking his head into his shoulder blade, it made him look so adorable that Tony couldn’t help himself but lean into the car and kiss Peter on his chubby cheek. 

Morgan ran over to the other side of the car and waited for Tony to unbuckle Peter from his car seat. Tony then picked Peter up and placed him on his feet where Morgan was so he could shut the door. 

“Come hold my hand, Pete.” Tony reached his hand out for Peter but he was already trying to run into the parking lot. Tony ran forward and grabbed Peter by the arm then lifted him up onto his hip in one motion. “Okay. Looks like you’re gonna be a runner.” 

Peter grabbed onto the back of Tony’s shirt and was sticking it tongue out at Morgan who was running from side to side behind Tony to make Peter laugh. 

“Watch where you’re going, Morgan. There are cars everywhere.” Pepper grabbed Morgan’s arm until they crossed the parking lot and went inside the store. 

Tony put Peter down on his feet and went to grab a buggy while he kept a close eye on Peter. 

The store was fairly empty considering everything that is going on but maybe that’s why it’s so empty. 

“Stay close to me, Peter.” Tony warned him but it didn’t look like Peter was listening. He was holding onto Morgan’s hand and giggling about something. 

They went into the fruits and vegetable section first because while they’re there, they might as well do grocery shopping as well. Peter and Morgan were running wild but they stayed in front of the shopping cart so it was okay. 

“Morg, cut it out. Bring Peter over here and I want you guys to pick two veggies each.” Pepper said as she stood in front of the wet section of vegetables. 

Peter shook his head. “Me no like veggies. They yuckie.” 

Peppers face softened. “They aren’t yuckie, Peter. They’re healthy for you so I want you to pick two.” 

Morgan grabbed broccoli and peppers then put them into the bag and into the shopping cart but Peter crossed his arms with a pout on his face. 

“What are you gonna pick, Peter?” Pepper asked him but Peter shook his head. She sighed and walked over to him, picking him up and putting him on her hip so she could show him all the options. “There’s zucchini, corn, carrots-” 

“Carrots. The Easter bunny eats ‘dem. He goes num num num.” Peter mimicked a bunny eating and both Tony and Pepper cooed at him. 

“That’s good, Pete. What else do you want? One more.” Pepper walked him down the section a bit and then Peter pointed to some mushrooms. 

“What’s that? It like baby umbrellas.” Pepper placed Peter on his feet so he could go grab it. Peter picked up the mushrooms and squeezed them then placed them in the shopping cart. 

They continued to shop some more but Morgan and Peter were both getting too crazy and running out of sight. “Morgan. Keep Peter over here where we can see you.” Pepper warned her. 

Peter ran ahead and bumped into an old lady who gave him a dirty look. “Watch where you’re going, you brat.” 

Peter looked up at her. “I sorry.” 

She scoffed at him then looked at Tony and Pepper. “Keep an eye on your kid.” 

Tony could not believe how miserable some people could be. He walked over to them and grabbed Peter’s hand. “Scared he’ll knock out your oxygen tube. Have some decency you old bat. He’s five.” 

The old lady gasped in shock then walked away from Tony and Peter. 

Pepper pushed the cart over to him with Morgan. “What was her problem.” 

“Who knows.” Tony said then kneeled down so he was at Peter’s height. “You can’t keep running around like that because then you bump into people like that.” 

Peter looked down. “I sorry. I didn’t mean to.” 

“It’s okay. Just don’t do it again.” Tony stood back up and took the cart back from Pepper. They started to walk into the snack aisle now which Tony knew both of his kids loved. “Morgan, do you wanna help Peter pick out some snacks?” 

“Yeah! Come, Peter. The best snacks are always high on the shelves for some reason so I’ll help you get it.” Morgan grabbed Peter's hand and started running with him down the aisle to get to the good stuff. She picked Peter up and he attempted to reach for the goldfish but they still couldn’t get it. 

“Almost. Lift him up higher.” Tony cheered them on and then Peter knocked a package onto the floor. “Teamwork.” 

Peter picked up the package and placed it in the cart. “I wan’ um, the ones that go like the dip.” 

Tony tried to think about what Peter was saying. The dip? “What dip, bud?” 

Peter walked over to him and started tapping him on his crotch so Tony quickly moved his hands. “Okay, not there.” 

Peter moved his hands to the side but he didn’t stop tapping him. “The-the ones. Go go in the… the tubes.” 

“Ohh! You mean the yogurt tubes?” Tony asked him and remembered when him and Peter used to eat one after another in the lab. It was so hard because for Tony, that was ten years ago but for Peter it was two days and ten hours ago. 

“Yeah! I wan’ that.” Peter clapped his hands together excitedly. 

“We’ll get you that but we have to go to the dairy section first.” Tony told him and then Peter was grabbing more snacks with Morgan. 

They started walking through the store but once again, Morgan and Peter were running off and running out of Tony’s and Peppers sight. 

“Peter. No more. Come here.” Tony warned him after Morgan realized Tony was getting angry and she went back to his side. 

Peter was still running around and going where Tony or Pepper couldn’t see him so Tony left the cart to go grab Peter. “No more. I told you to stop and you didn’t listen so no more.” 

Tony lifted Peter into his arms and carried him over to the cart. “No! I sorry. Daddy.” 

Tony loved hearing Peter call him that but he wasn’t going to give into that. “You can stay with me.” Tony placed Peter into the shopping cart seat and he fit perfectly. He missed the days when Morgan fit. 

Peter threw his head back and struggled to get out but then Tony tried to distract him. “Look, Peter, we’re gonna get you some pull-ups. Do you wanna pick?” 

Peter looked at Tony and then smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah. I want red.” 

Morgan perked up at that. “Peter’s getting diapers? Yes! I get to help you change him and Aw he’s gonna be so cute like my dolls.” 

Tony looked over at Pepper to laugh with her at Morgan’s excitement. They finished getting all the food that they needed, including Peter’s yogurts and Tony was glad that Peter liked sitting in the shopping cart seat. It was making things so much easier. 

They then walked into the baby section where the diapers were. “Yay! I’ll help decide what ones to get him.” Morgan started looking at the baby diapers without knowing that they wouldn’t fit Peter. 

“Morg, those are too small. Come over here.” Tony told her so she walked over to where everyone was and grabbed a bag of newborn diapers. “No, bug. Look, three to five years old. He needs those.” 

Peter pointed to the box with the blue monster from monsters inc. “I want that one. It has Sulley! I wan’ Sulley!” 

Tony saw the box and checked for the proper size then held the box out to Pepper. “Do you think these will fit him?” 

“Um,” Pepper checked the size then looked at Peter. “Yeah, he’s quite small too so they should fit him. Plus they’re stretchy so yeah, they’ll be perfect.” 

“And these too?” Morgan grabbed a bag of pull-ups which was probably the same thing anyways. 

“Yeah, throw it in.” Tony said so Morgan excitedly tossed the diapers into the cart along with the box. “Can you grab a bunch of packages of wipes for me?” 

“Yes.” Morgan ran to get the Pampers wipes and threw that into the cart then they were moving to the next aisle. “What’s next on the list?” 

“Uh, let’s see,” Pepper pulled out the shopping list. “Potty seat, step stools and a toothbrush.” 

Tony pushed the cart through the store while Peter was trying to lick his face the whole time. Tony moved his head back each time but Peter was determined. 

“Hey, Pete, Wanna pick out your potty seat? Look at all these options.” Tony pointed at the aisle that had a bunch of seats for Peter to pick from. 

Peter looked over at where Tony was pointing to and looked over all the options before landing on one. “I wan’ that one.” 

Tony grabbed it off the shelf. It was green and had little bears on it with two small handles on the side. He grabbed another one then put it in the cart. 

“How many stools do we need?” Morgan asked. She was standing in front of the bathroom stools so Tony pushed the cart over to her. 

“Just two of them. One for upstairs and one for downstairs.” Tony answered her then watched her grab two of the plastic stools and put them in the cart. 

Tony then saw a booster chair and thought that it would be perfect for either the kitchen stools or the dining room chair so he grabbed a box and put it at the bottom of the cart since there was barely any room left. 

“While we’re here we should get him a bathing suit.” Pepper remembered. Even if they didn’t plan on going swimming tonight since it might be late by the time they actually got home, they would have all day tomorrow and a whole lifetime ahead of them. 

After getting everything that they came for, plus a lot more, they were walking to the cashier to go pay. Peter was holding onto his new toothbrush which was a Winnie the Pooh one as well as his strawberry flavoured toothpaste. 

The guy at the cashier was staring at Peter in the cart seat as if he was trying to solve a complicated riddle. Tony pushed the cart forward so Peter was blocked by the sign. 

“Daddy, when we go back, we goin’ swimming?” Peter asked Tony who was paying with his card. He tried to do both at once. 

“If you guys want to then we can.” Tony told him. 

Morgan grabbed the box of diapers and put them in the shopping cart as well as the stools and potty seat while Pepper grabbed the bags. 

They made their way out of the store and across the parking lot to the car which Tony was grateful for Peter being in the seat the whole time so he didn’t have to worry about Peter running off. 

Tony kept Peter in the seat while they unloaded everything into the truck. “What about me?” Peter asked sadly. 

Tony smiled. “Did you guys hear that? That was weird. Let’s go.” 

“No! I still here!” Peter yelled and tried to reach out for Tony and Tony immediately felt bad. How could he even joke like that. 

He reached for Peter and lifted him out of him out of the shopping card, hugging him to his chest. “I’m just joking, baby. I’d never leave you.” 

Peter wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck. “I was scared.” 

“I’m sorry, baby. That was rude of me.” Tony opened the back door, laughing when Peter started nodding his head. “How about I make it up to you with some swimming?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah. I go swimming.” 

Tony loved the way that Peter spoke. It was so pure and innocent. 

He sat Peter in his car seat and did up the buckles then pressed another kiss to his cheek before getting into the car and starting it. 

Their very first outing as a family was a success but he could already tell that he was going to have his hands full with Peter on future shopping trips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys is it sad that I had to look up vegetables because I don’t know any but like broccoli and carrots ahhh 
> 
> Anyways here are some of the things that they bought. 
> 
> Peter’s potty seat: 
> 
> https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB11kEGjYuWBuNjSszgq6z8jVXaY/High-Quality-Baby-Potty-Chair-Children-Toilet-Seat-Comfortable-Soft-Toilet-Mat.jpg_q50.jpg
> 
> Peter’s bathing suit: 
> 
> https://i5.walmartimages.ca/images/Enlarge/105/842/999999-889834105842.jpg
> 
> Peter’s chair booster seat: 
> 
> https://s3.amazonaws.com/messalawp/booster+seats.jpg


	8. You could be the world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s my 19th birthday today ahhh I do not feel 19 at all! My last year of being a teenager which is just crazy to me and kinda sad:( but oh well! Closer to me having kids!!

The whole way home was spent listening to Frozen again but Tony didn’t care since he got to see the smile on his kids faces. It was worth the headache he got. 

“I wanna go out first.” Peter said once they pulled the car up to the house. He was kicking the back of Tony’s seat in his excitement so Tony was glad that they were at the house so he didn’t have to deal with Peter kicking his seat. 

“I’ll get you out in one second.” Tony shut the car off and got out then opened up the back door to get Peter. He loved the face he was making again and seemed to only make that face in his car seat. 

Peter was leaning his head against his shoulder and smiling up at Tony with his baby teeth on display. “Come here, bud.” 

Tony undid the buckles and lifted Peter out of the car, setting him on the ground. “Daddy, I wan’ go in-in the water.” 

Tony loved hearing Peter call him that. He hoped he never got over the giddy feeling he got but he didn’t think he ever would. “We’re all gonna go in the water soon but we have to bring everything inside and get changed first.” 

“‘Kay! I help.” Peter ran to the back of the car where Morgan and Pepper were and started trying to climb up into the trunk but it was too high off the ground. 

Tony watched him struggle for a few seconds. Peter should have no problem climbing into that trunk but maybe that means that his spider powers are gone. Tony doesn’t know how to feel about that. 

For the short term, he’s glad that Peter doesn’t have his spidey powers because a five year old hyperactive child that can climb on walls would not be easy to deal with but in the long term, Peter can no longer be Spider-Man. 

Tony doesn’t know what he would prefer but that’s obviously not up to him. 

He decided not to think about that right now. Tony reached into the trunk and grabbed two light shopping bags then handed them to Peter. “Here, you take these in.” 

Peter excitedly grabbed both of the bags, happy to be helping out. 

Morgan grabbed the diaper box while Tony and Pepper grabbed one of the heavier bags then they all went inside the house to drop off their first load. 

Peter went to go pull on Tony’s arm. “Now we go swimming?” 

“Not yet. There’s still more stuff we have to bring inside.” Tony put his hand on top of Peter’s head and started leading uuuhim towards the front door again. 

“Peter, I’ll help you carry some stuff in too.” Morgan said and grabbed onto Peter’s hand then started running with him towards the car but she was going too fast for Peter to keep up with her and if she wasn’t careful then Peter would faceplant onto the gravel. 

“Morgan. Stop running. You’re going too fast for Peter’s tiny legs to keep up with you.” Tony warned her. He walked over to them waiting by the trunk and handed Peter the potty seats and Morgan the steps then grabbed the last of the bags and shut the trunk. 

“Peter, when we go swimming, I’ll show you how I go underwater.” Morgan said to him while they were walking inside the house. 

“Yeah, you have to hold your breath and go under so you don’ breathe all the water into your nose.” Peter explained to her then placed the potty seats onto the floor and started tugging on Tony’s shirt again. “Wanna go in the water now.” 

“My hands are full right now, Petey. Give me a second to put this away.” Tony placed the bags on top of the kitchen island while Peter still continued to tug on his shirt to get his attention. “Okay. All done.” 

“Yay! I wanna go in the water now!” Peter screamed and jumped up and down. Tony lifted him onto his hip and started looking for the cute little bathing suit that they bought Peter. “I see my bathing suit! It in the- that ‘dare one.” 

Tony looked at where Peter was pointing and held up the bathing suit that Peter picked out. It was dark blue, had a bunch of sharks on it and pretty much looked like swim underwear but Peter was set on getting it. 

He held Peter over the table so he could reach into the bag and grab it. 

“Let’s head up Morgan.” Tony said to Morgan who was waiting patiently by the stairs. Tony put Peter on his feet once they got to the top of the stairs and stopped off at Morgan’s bedroom. “We’ll meet you in my room once you’re done changing.” 

Peter ran into Tony’s bedroom and as simple as it was, Tony loved how Peter knew where to go already. The house isn’t very big but still, he’s glad that in the two days that Peter’s been there that he already knows where everything is. Well, mostly everything but he hasn’t been in Morgan’s bedroom yet from what he knows. 

Tony sat on the bed and started to take off the tags from the bathing suit. “Take off all your clothes while I get these tags.” 

Peter lifted his shirt up but then he started whining. “Can’t. Help me.” 

Tony watched Peter struggling with his shirt for a few seconds before helping him because it was funny to watch. “Okay, off it comes.” 

Peter giggled at Tony. “Say it again.” 

“I’ll say it again if you finish getting undressed.” Tony couldn’t seem to get the tag off the suit without ripping it. 

“Help me.” Peter said again with his pants. Tony knew he could pull them off himself but he was going to take full advantage of Peter depending on him. 

“Off it comes.” Tony said as he tugged his pants and underwear down with Peter giggling. He threw his dirty clothes into the hamper then went back to the tag but he couldn’t get it off. 

He got up to go into the bathroom to find some scissors with Peter following him. “Where are the scissors, Petey?” Tony asked but obviously Peter wouldn’t know. 

Peter tried to look in some drawers as well. “I don’ know. I help you look for them.” 

Pepper then walked into the bathroom. “Oh, oops. I’m just looking for Morgan’s bathing suit. She said she left it in here.” 

“I don’ know where it is either.” Peter shrugged his shoulders at Pepper. 

“Aw, that’s okay, Peter.” She smiled up at Tony at Peter’s cuteness then grabbed the bathing suit that was drying on the back of the door. “Look, I found it.” 

“Pep, where are the scissors?” Tony asked her before she left the room. 

“They should be in the drawer.” She said but he shook his head so she walked over and looked inside then pulled them out. “They’re right here, Genius.” 

“Oh. Good eye.” Tony didn’t know what he would do without her. 

Pepper looked down at Peter. “Is your daddy silly, Peter?” 

Peter grinned and ran to hug Tony’s legs. “Yeah, he’s a silly billy.” 

Tony felt his heart stop. He loved hearing that name with Peter because it just made everything all the more real. Peter was his kid. 

“Alright. I’m gonna go give Madame Secretary her bathing suit.” Pepper smiled at him before leaving the room. 

“Bye bye.” Peter waved to her. 

“Okay, little man. The tags are all gone.” Tony kneeled down so he could put it on Peter. “Let’s get this on you and then we’ll go outside.” 

Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arms for balance as he stepped into his new bathing suit. It fit Peter perfectly. “Look at you, bud. You could be a swimsuit model.” 

Peter grinned and went over to the full length mirror so he could look at himself. “I like all my little sharkies.” 

“Yeah, they’re excited to go swimming too.” Tony playfully said then stood up so they could go see if Morgan was ready yet. 

“Are you comin in with me?” Peter asked. He grabbed onto Tony’s hand so he could hold it as they left the bathroom and headed to Morgan’s bedroom. 

“Yeah, we're all going but I’m not gonna go swimming. Just you guys are.” Tony answered him. He held onto Peter’s hand and took in just how tiny his hand was. He still wasn’t used to Peter’s size for two reasons. 

Morgan was always so tiny to him because she was smaller than him and Pepper obviously but then Peter came around and now Peter was the smallest one there and it was simply adorable. Also the fact that Tony is used to Peter as a fifteen year old kid not a five year old. 

Peter let go of Tony’s hand to run into Morgan’s bedroom. He saw the bed and immediately attempted to climb onto it. “You have a grey bunny.” 

Morgan looked over at him. “Yeah, his name is Scruffy.” 

Peter hugged the stuffed animal to his chest and rubbed his face against it. “I like him. He’s soft.” 

Morgan smiled at Peter. “I like your bathing suit, Peter. There’s tiny sharks on it.” 

Peter laid down on the bed and lifted his legs up in the air. “Yeah! They gonna eat you.” 

“Let’s go swimming before it gets too dark out.” Pepper said and then Peter was standing up and reaching his arms out for her so she happily lifted Peter up into her arms and set him on her hip. “Look at how cute your bathing suit is, Peter. I love it.” 

Peter grinned. “Yeah, daddy put it on and then said he not gonna go in the water but he’s still gonna be there.” 

Tony laughed at Peter’s childish response to Pepper saying she liked his bathing suit. Oh how he missed this age so much. 

When they got outside, Peter kicked his legs to be put down so Pepper placed him on the ground and then Morgan was grabbing his hand and leading him over to the water. 

“Don’t bring him into the water, Morgan.” Pepper warned her since she knew Peter would want to go in on his own time. 

Morgan stopped once they got to the edge of the water then she immediately started walking in because she was used to it after all the years but Peter had never gone in before so he was cautious. 

“Come in, Peter. I’ll carry you.” Morgan told him and then dunked her head under the water. 

Peter slowly took a step into the water that was only up to his ankles but then he stepped out and ran over to Tony. He lifted his arm up for him, “Up.” 

Tony lifted Peter up and walked towards the water with him. “It’s fun, Pete. Look at how much fun Morgan is having.” 

Peter watched Morgan happily splashing around in the water but then he shook his head and pointed at Tony. “Daddy goes in. I wan’ go with you.” 

“Alright. Even though daddy didn’t put his bathing suit on.” Tony still wasn’t over the fact that Peter called him daddy. He hoped he never got over the feeling it gave him. 

Peter kicked his legs excitedly as Tony walked into the water, getting his pants soaked in the process but he didn’t care. He walked in until he was up to his knees and went to put Peter in but Peter held onto him tighter. 

“No! Hold me.” Peter grabbed onto Tony’s shirt so Tony couldn’t let him go. He held Peter so that he had one arm around his chest and the other hand between his legs so he could dip Peter’s feet into the water. 

Tony got a flashback to when Morgan was only a few months old and he held her the same way so he could dip her into the lake for the first time. Only now it was Peter’s first time and he was five. 

Peter lifted his legs up so Tony couldn’t dip them into the water. “Put your feet down.” 

Peter giggled and shook his head. “Nu uuh. I lift ‘dem up.” 

Tony laughed at him lifting his legs up into the air. He didn’t understand how Peter was even doing that without a sweat. He didn’t want to force Peter into the water because that wouldn’t be good for him. Peter had to go in on his own terms. 

So Tony carried Peter out of the water and placed him onto the grass. He walked over to the chairs that Pepper was sitting on and sat down on one but Peter was climbing onto his lap. 

“I’m sitting with you.” Peter said. 

“Why don’t you go in the water with Morgan? I’ll be right here the whole time.” Tony reassured him. He could see Peter thinking about it but he was shaking his head after. Tony stood up again and placed Peter on the ground. “Alright. I’m gonna join her.” 

Tony then began walking towards the water and back into it. It was getting kinda cold since the sun was starting to go down but he didn’t care since he was used to the cold water by now. 

Peter followed him but stopped just as his ankles went into the water. “Daddy. Carry me.” Peter reached his arms up for Tony but Tony shook his head. 

“Come to where me and Morgan are.” Tony told Peter. He was just passed his thighs meaning that Peter would be up to his shoulders but Tony would be there to grab him. 

Peter shook his head and stomped on the water. “No. The sharks will come and eat me.” 

Everyone laughed at that and how innocent Peter’s mind was. “No, baby. There are no sharks in this lake. Sharks live in the ocean.” Tony told him and held his arms out. “Come to me.” 

Peter hesitated but he stepped more into the water and kept going very slowly until he was about two feet away from Tony. Peter smiled and went to jump but he ended up diving face first into the water and going under so Tony reached forward and grabbed him. 

He lifted Peter up and at first he thought that Peter would start crying but after the shock disappeared from his face, Peter started giggling like crazy. 

“That was fun.” Peter said and Tony sighed with relief. Swimming was a huge part of their family since they were always in the lake for a huge percentage of the day and if Peter didn’t like swimming then that would have sucked. 

“Do you want to try and swim? I’ll hold you up.” Tony asked Peter and brushed the wet curls out of his face. 

Peter nodded. “Yeah. I wan’ swim to Morgan.” 

“Okay.” Tony held Peter in the water with his hand holding onto his chest and his other hand between his legs as Peter kicked his feet and attempted to swim to Morgan who was already way past her neck. 

“Hi Peter.” Morgan was struggling to hold her head above the water but Tony knew she had it. He couldn’t count the number of times Morgan had done that and gave him a heart attack only to find out she liked it. “Watch me do a… a roll.” 

Tony was already up to his chest so he made sure to hold Peter tightly because if he went under Tony wouldn’t be able to find him that quickly in the dark lake water. 

Morgan went under and there was a lot of slashing and then she came back up and coughed on some water. Peter was clapping his hands together excitedly. “Do it again!” 

Morgan smiled and then went under again to do it once more. When she came back up, her head slipped under and she started coughing some more then she reached her arm out to Tony so Tony grabbed her by the arm so she could catch her breath. 

“Do again.” Peter cheered and Tony didn’t understand why Peter was talking that way. It was adorable but he knew Peter was capable of talking in complete sentences… for the most part. 

“Do it again, Pete. And Morgan can’t because she’s getting tired now.” Tony told him. He let go of Morgan’s arm once she could touch the ground and then he shifted Peter so that he was in his swimming position again. “Morgan, can you play with Peter in the shallow end?” 

“Yeah! Let me go get the buckles so we can make mud pies.” Morgan ran out of the water and ran over to one of the trees where the bucket of toys were. 

She came back over with two buckets and two shovels then sat down so the water was barely passed her thighs. Tony placed Peter on his feet. “Go play with Morgan, I’ll be right over there.” 

Peter squatted down and started digging up the mud with Morgan while Tony took off his wet shirt and sat down. He was extremely uncomfortable but they were only going to be outside for about another twenty minutes or so. 

Tony and Pepper sat there and watched their two kids playing with the mud. They were used to only having to watch Morgan but now they had two kids to watch. 

Tony couldn’t take his eyes off of Peter. The kid was sitting on his butt with his legs stretched out in front of him and he was piling the mud onto his legs then patting it down. 

All Tony could think about was how messy he was going to be to clean up but that was okay. He was okay with that since he could hear Peter giggling nonstop. 

Morgan took the mud off of Peter’s legs and then Peter was moving closer to her so he could take her shovel. “Mine now.” 

“Hey, thats mine.” Morgan grabbed the shovel back from Peter and continued to fill up her mud bucket. 

Peter looked over at Tony with a grin. “Daddy, I’m peeing.” 

“What?” Tony and Pepper laughed at him. “Are you peeing right now?” 

Peter nodded at Tony and then went back to playing with the mud. 

“Okay then.” Tony laughed and put his arm around Pepper. “Can you believe we have a five year old again?” 

“Still trying to believe it.” Pepper admitted and moved closer to Tony. “We’re definitely in for a lot.” 

Tony nodded. He couldn’t agree more. “But we should head inside soon. We have to bathe, change and put two kids to bed now.” 

Tony could just imagine how crazy that was going to be. “You guys have five more minutes.” 

Morgan gave a thumbs up to Tony while Peter ignored him and continued to play in the mud. Tony and Pepper were both still learning things about Peter. 

Even though Tony knew Peter inside and out when he was a teen, this Peter was a five year old and Tony wasn’t sure if it was how Peter acted when he was that age before. He sure as hell looked the same from all the pictures that Tony had seen of him but since May is no longer alive, it is almost impossible to know if Peter acted the same way. 

He would assume for the most part he acted the same way but he wasn’t sure that would last long since Peter was being raised in a different environment with an older sibling and two parents. 

After the five minutes, Tony was standing up with Pepper. “Let’s go inside guys.” 

“Okay. I have to rinse the buckets and shovels first.” Morgan grabbed hers and started rinsing them out but when she moved to grab Peter’s, he screamed. “I have to clean them.” 

“No! I’m still playing, Morgan. Go ‘way.” Peter crawled away from her with his bucket and shovel then sat with his back to everyone. 

Morgan looked at Tony helplessly. “It’s okay, Morg, I’ll get him.” Tony told her then walked over to Peter. “It’s time to go inside, Peter. Let’s go.” 

Peter shook his head. “You say five minutes and it’s only been five seconds.” 

“No, it’s been six minutes now so it’s time to go inside.” Tony told him then walked around so he could crouch down in front of him. 

“No. I don’ want to.” Peter said and continued to fill the bucket up with mud. 

“You can come outside and play tomorrow when it’s bright outside but now it’s getting dark and all of the bears are gonna come.” Tony was partly lying. In the ten years that they’ve lived at the house for, they have seen a bear a total of three times and that’s because there is absolutely no reason for a bear to wander onto their property when the bear has a whole forest to wander in. 

Peter looked up curiously. “Like a big bear?” Tony nodded. “Does it come with his daddy bear and go swimming?” 

“Baby bears usually travel with their mommy’s.” Tony told Peter. 

Peter frowned. “Where do the daddy’s go?” 

“Uh, they go find some fish for the family to eat.” Tony told him while Pepper and Morgan were waiting. Morgan was already wrapped in a towel and Pepper was holding Peter’s for him. 

“Oh, like all the fishes in the lake?” Peter asked and Tony knew that Peter would continue to keep asking questions so he didn’t have to go inside. Much like teen Peter when he didn’t want to do something. 

“Okay, enough questions for tonight. Rinse your buckets out and go put them away then we’ll go inside.” Tony told Peter again. He could see Peter thinking about it but he ignored him and went back to playing with the mud. 

Tony grabbed the bucket and shovel from him and tossed it onto the grass which caused Peter to immediately start screaming. “No! Mine!” 

“Nope. I told you to put it away and you didn’t so I did.” Tony walked back over to Peter who threw himself onto the mud and was crying loudly. Good thing they didn’t have any neighbours. 

“Get up, Peter. Look, Pepper and Morgan are waiting for you.” Tony pointed to them who were watching the two of them. 

Peter kicked his legs out at Tony and continued to cry. “No! Don’ Wanna go inside! No!” 

Tony reached down and picked the muddy five year old up. He held him very awkwardly since Peter was kicking and squirming in his arms a lot. He walked towards the girls and gave Pepper a look. He did not miss this part of having a five year old. 

“No, daddy! No! Outside!” Peter screamed at him and mumbled some other type of incoherent gibberish as Tony carried him inside the house. 

He continued to struggle to hold Peter since the kid was slipping out of his arms and screaming in Tony’s ear. 

Morgan was shivering now so she could shower first. “Morgan, you go shower while Peter calms down.” 

Morgan raced upstairs immediately while Tony struggled with Peter. “I wan’- I wan’ go outside!” 

“Peter, it’s getting late and you have to go to bed soon.” Tony told him but Peter shook his head and continued to cry. “Peter. Calm down. Look if you don’t stop crying then you’re not gonna go play outside tomorrow.” 

“No! I wan’ to!” Peter screamed so Tony put him on the floor and walked away from him. Usually when Morgan had temper tantrums, she needed to be left alone to calm down so maybe that’s what Peter would need. 

Tony walked into the kitchen, still wearing his incredibly uncomfortable pants, and he grabbed Peter’s sippy cup and filled it with water to see if that would calm him down as well. It only worked when Morgan was a baby but maybe it would work for Peter. 

The five year old was immediately getting up and running to Tony’s feet and grabbing onto Tony’s pants. “Hold me! Daddy, hold me!” 

Tony’s heart broke. Hearing Peter say that hurt because he just wanted Peter to be a happy child but he knew that wasn’t possible because he was at that age where everything upset him if he didn’t like it. 

He crouched down so he was at Peter’s height. Peter tried to wrap his arms around Tony but he held his arms down. “Take a breath, Peter. I don’t know why you’re crying so much. The water isn’t going anywhere. When I say it’s time to go inside then you need to listen to me.” 

Peter continued to cry so Tony wasn’t sure if Peter was actually hearing him. “I-I wan’ up.” 

“Okay. Come here.” Tony lifted Peter into his arms and handed him his sippy cup which Peter immediately shoved into his mouth and started drinking from it. 

Tony sighed in relief at the quiet. It was nice so he carried Peter upstairs and into his and Peppers bathroom. 

Peter took the sippy cup out of his mouth and pointed at the shower where Morgan was. “It all steamy.” 

Tony looked at him in shock. He never understood how kids could be so resilient. Peter just went from screaming bloody murder to smiling and pointing at things. 

Pepper looked up at them from her spot on her vanity chair. “Hi Peter. Are you ready to shower?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Uh huh.” 

Tony placed Peter on the floor and sat down on the bathtub step. “Come here, Pete. I’m gonna take this off.” 

“Is Peter in here?” Morgan asked excitedly from the shower. 

“Yeah, he’s right here.” Pepper asked her and then Morgan stuck her head out with soap all in her hair still. “Chop chop, little miss. Peter still needs to shower.” 

Tony pulled off the wet and muddy swim suit off of Peter and stood up to put it in the sink. Peter ran to the shower and tried to peek in but it was too foggy for him to see anything. 

Peter then ran to the sink and opened up the bathroom cupboard and began pulling bottles of soap out. “What are you doing, Petey?” 

Peter grabbed the shampoo bottle and walked over to Tony to hand it to him. “For my hair and your hair too.” 

Tony grabbed it from him. “Thanks, Pete. Does Pepper get some?” 

Peter went to go back under the sink and grabbed her another shampoo bottle then walked over to her to hand it over. “This one is for you and for Morgan cause she’s a girl and daddy is a boy.” 

Pepper took it from him. “Oh wow. Thank you, Peter. What are you?” 

“Um… I’m just a boy. Like daddy.” Peter said then leaned against Peppers legs. 

“Alright well Morgan seems to have disappeared in there so how about we get you quickly washed with the bathtub shower hose.” Tony suggested because he needed to get Peter clean and jump into the shower himself because his legs were starting to get itchy. “Come, Pete.” 

Peter walked over to Tony so Tony lifted him into the bathtub so he was standing in it then he turned the bathtub shower hose on and set it to the right temperature. “Can you come hold it, Pep, so I can wash him?” 

Pepper walked over to them and took it from Tony after he rinsed Peter down. “What shampoo do you want?” 

Peter looked at it. “Um, I want the red one. Let me smell it.” 

Tony held the bottle out for Peter to smell it then he was pouring some onto his hand and rubbing it into his curls to get him clean. 

“Daddy, after all the soap is out it’s gonna clean all my toes.” Peter explained to him. 

“Let’s see about that.” Tony said after he was done with Peter’s hair. Tony rinsed his hands and then Pepper rinsed all the soap out, careful not to get it in Peter’s eyes. 

“Look at ‘dem.” Peter looked down at his feet with a smile. Tony didn’t understand what was so interesting about them but everything was interesting for a five year old. 

“Wow. They’re getting so clean.” Tony said and grabbed the body wash and started cleaning Peter’s body everywhere just as Morgan stepped out of the shower. 

“I want to help you, daddy.” She said after she wrapped a towel around herself and walked over to the bathtub. 

“I’m all done, Morg. Now he has a clean bum and clean feet.” Tony smiled at Peter who was giggling at what Tony said. Tony rinsed his hands off and took over with the shower hose. 

Peter tugged on one of his curls. “And clean hair because my daddy cleaned it.” Peter said with so much proudness that made Tony’s heart swell. 

He finished rinsing Peter’s hair then shut the water off and picked Peter up in a large towel. “Look at you all cozy in there.” 

Peter grinned at Tony then started laughing when Tony started to dry his dripping hair. 

Morgan left the bedroom to go change into her pyjamas while Tony carried Peter into the bedroom. He knew Peter was old enough to get dressed into his pyjamas on his own with some assistance but he knew he wasn’t going to have any other kids and he needed to take advantage of his son's young age. 

So he laid Peter on the bed and dried him off all while Peter was laughing at what Tony was doing. “D-daddy you silly!” 

Tony blew a raspberry on his exposed stomach and got a loud giggle from Peter but then he stopped. He was trying to get Peter tired before bed time. 

Morgan ran into the bedroom, dressed in her pyjamas and went to go look at Peter. “Hi baby Peter. Look at your hair.” Morgan reached out to touch Peter’s curly wet hair. 

“Yeah. It goes all curly then it dries with all the air.” Peter explained to her. 

“Morg, can you grab the box of his pull-ups for me please?” Tony asked her then finished drying Peter off. 

Pepper walked into the room with a cup of tea. “I was thinking, we could go outside in the swing under the stars and let them calm down before bedtime.” 

“We haven’t done that in awhile.” Tony said as he was grabbing Peter’s feet and getting a bunch of giggles out of him. “We definitely need it.” 

Morgan walked back into the room with the box of pull-ups and set them on the bed. She then jumped on it and helped Tony open it. 

“Up we get.” Tony lifted Peter up by his arms so he was standing on the bed. He pulled a pull-up out of the box and showed it to Peter. “You’re gonna wear these to bed and during nap times, okay? It’ll help you keep the bed dry plus they look super cool.” 

“Wow. Look at how cool those look, Peter. You’re gonna be the coolest person in the house when you’re wearing those.” Pepper added in since she knew how important it was to encourage Peter to wear them. 

Peter didn’t look like he cared one bit. He grabbed the pull-up Tony was holding in his hand and examined it. “No more pee pee?” 

Tony grabbed another one out of the box. “No more pee pee on the bed but you go in these now.” 

“No more toilet?” Peter pointed in the direction of the bathroom. 

“No, bud. This is just for when you’re sleeping then in the day time, you go pee pee and poop in the toilet. Okay?” Tony wanted to make sure Peter understood that. He still needed to get Peter to Morgan’s paediatrician which would end up being Peter’s as well but he wanted to hold back on that for as long as possible since he knew how many people would be going to the doctors. 

Peter nodded his head excitedly so Tony held out the pull-up for Peter to step into and pulled it up on him. “Woah! Look how cool you look.” 

Peter looked down at himself and smiled. “Yeah! I look so cool. Like daddy.” 

Tony smiled at him. “Yeah, baby. You look just like daddy.” 

Peter grinned at Tony so the two of them just stared at each other for a few seconds. All Tony could think about was all those years spent mourning over Peter and wishing to have his kid back in his arms again and now Peter was and he couldn’t be happier about it. 

Morgan was handing Tony Peter’s pyjamas and causing Tony to lose his train of thought. He took them from her, “Thanks, Morg.” 

Tony helped Peter get his pyjamas on and then he was picking him up into his arms and holding him close to his chest. “You wanna see something cool?” 

Peter nodded his head but Tony could tell that he was already starting to get really tired. 

Morgan held Tony’s hand that wasn’t holding Peter in his arms then the family of now four made their way outside. 

There was an outdoor swing bed that was near one of Morgan’s house forts that she would play in. It was fairly large and very comfortable but they never went inside of it because there was no need to. They never sat in it as a family and were only ever used by Pepper to read in it occasionally on some sunny mornings but that’s it. 

But now, Tony had a good feeling that they would be getting good use out of it with Peter. 

They walked down the steps of the deck then Morgan was running off towards the swing, already knowing where they were going. Peter rested his head on Tony’s shoulder as he looked around at everything while the three of them made their way over there. 

Morgan was making the swing bed rock back and forth by the time they got there by running side to side inside the bars so Tony held Peter up by the entrance. “Can you help Pete up?” 

“Come here, baby brother. I’ll help you.” Morgan grabbed onto Peter’s hand and carefully led him over to the pillows but Peter was whining and reaching out for Tony. 

“I’m right here, bud.” Tony reassured him as he climbed onto the swing bed after Pepper got in. 

He reached out for Peter and lifted him up so he was cuddled against his side as he laid down. Morgan was next to Peter and holding onto his hand while Pepper laid next to Morgan. 

Peter grabbed his hand away from Morgan so he could place it on Tony’s chest and lightly grab his shirt. He put his thumb in his mouth and rested his head on Tony’s chest above his heart. 

Tony looked down at Peter and felt genuine happiness for the first time in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter:) I was stuck on chapter 11 for the longest time but I finally finished it! Ahh it was so frustrating 
> 
> Here’s the swing set/ bed swing thing: 
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a8/7c/e4/a87ce449afb01b1ef0df46793d6a013f.jpg


	9. Whatever may be, you’re my baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are keeping safe out there.

Tony had just finished getting Peter ready for the day then he was running off into the playroom. Tony smiled as he watched Peter run down the hallway back to the playroom where Morgan was. 

They had all been up for hours and it was nearing lunch time but Peter had refused to let Tony get him changed and so he didn’t push it. 

He turned around and walked over to where Pepper was reading one of her health books on the couch. “I need to go shower so can you watch them?” 

Tony didn’t know why he was asking, of course Pepper would watch them but he still felt like Peter was his kid and his kid only. He didn’t know why he still felt that way since even before when Peter was a teen, Pepper had loved and cared for the boy as well. 

“Of course, Tony. I’ll be here.” Pepper smiled up at him so he kissed her on the head then left to go upstairs. 

It was weird to be leaving Peter for the first time in three days, aside from when he would change and shower with Peter in the next room waiting for him. Although Tony knew he had to get used to it since he couldn’t have Peter cling onto him 24/7, even if he really wanted it. Probably more than Peter did. 

Peter ran out of the playroom and down the hallway where Pepper was. He looked around for Tony but didn’t see him so he ran over to Pepper and started tapping on her leg. “Where’s daddy?” 

“Daddy went to go shower, Peter.” She answered him but she could tell he was going to start freaking out if she didn’t do something. “I can get something for you if you need something?” 

Peter grabbed between his legs. “I need to pee.” 

Pepper smiled at the action and was already standing up and putting her book down. “Alright. Let’s go.” 

Peter grabbed onto Pepper’s hand and the two of them walked into the bathroom. Pepper knew Peter was old enough to go by himself but she assumed that he had to remember how to go after being dusted for ten years and coming back a five year old. 

“Now pull down your pants and underwear.” She instructed him but Peter shook his head. 

“No. You do it.” Peter demanded and tried to walk closer to her so she could. 

“You’re a big boy, Peter. You don’t need my help.” Pepper told him but Peter started jumping up and down, about to start crying. 

“Then I want daddy.” Peter whined so Pepper sighed and pulled down his pants and underwear then lifted him onto the potty seat. Peter hummed happily once he got his way but Pepper couldn’t stay mad at him. “All done! Look, I did it!” 

“Good job, Peter. Look at you.” Pepper encouraged him then lifted him back up onto the floor. 

“Now I gotta wash my hands with soap.” Peter said but Pepper stopped him. 

“You have to pull up your underwear and pants first, Pete.” She told him. 

“Oh yeah. I do that.” Peter struggled to get his clothes back on and then he was climbing onto the stool to wash his hands. After he was done, he showed his hands to Pepper. “All clean. I go play now.” 

Pepper watched Peter take off running back down the hall so she flushed the toilet and left the bathroom. 

Peter ran back to his spot in the playroom and jumped into one of the boxes that they were using to build a fort. “Peter, you have to bring that one over here to me.” 

Peter listened to Morgan, got out of the box and dragged it over to her where she was putting the other boxes together. “Like that?” 

“Yeah. Do you wanna go play in my fort outside now?” Morgan asked him. She always spent time in her forts by herself so it would be fun to have someone to play with. 

“Yeah! Is daddy gonna come?” Peter asked as he grabbed onto Morgan’s hand so he could hold it while he walked out with her. 

“Umm, maybe later. Maybe he’s busy right now.” They walked towards the front door as Morgan called out, “Mom, I’m taking Peter outside to my fort.” 

“Alright but stay where I can see you and keep an eye on him.” Pepper said to Morgan. Morgan had been playing outside by herself on her first since she was three almost four so they were used to letting her play outside by herself but not so much Peter so Pepper made a mental note to go check on the two of them soon. 

“I will. Let’s go, Peter.” Morgan pulled Peter by the arm and the two of them ran outside. “My fort is over here. And I also got one over there too but this one is better.” 

“Are there toys inside?” Peter asked. He let go of their hand once they got to the fort and he crawled inside. 

“Yeah, I brought so many toys out here.” Morgan told him then crawled in after Peter and showed him her spinning ball. 

Peter giggled as she showed him the toy and then he was reaching for more toys. “I like this one.” 

Morgan sat down and crossed her legs then eyed Peter. “Were you and daddy best friends before?” 

Peter continued to look at the toy as he answered. “Sometimes daddy said to me no but he’s funny anyways.” 

Morgan made a face, “What? I mean before the dusting happened. I know you were older, like fifteen because mommy and daddy always said I had a big brother but you’re my baby brother now but I like that better anyways.” 

Peter nodded. “Yeah. I’m five.” 

Morgan sighed dramatically. “Peter. You’re not answering my question. I asked if you and daddy were best friends before?” 

Peter looked up at Morgan, confused. “Before bedtime?” 

“No. Never mind. You’re too little to understand.” Morgan grabbed the toy out of Peter’s hand and stood up. “Follow me. I wanna show you something cool.” 

Morgan pulled Peter out of the tent and brought him over to one of the cars. It was Peppers suv that was a deep red colour. “It’s mommy’s car. Daddy bought it for her for Christmas and it came with a big black bow on the top.” 

Peter ran over to the backseat door and tried to open it but he could barely reach the handle. “Up. Lift me up.” 

Morgan walked over to him but went to open the front door instead. “I’m gonna climb in and pretend to drive the car.” 

Peter watched Morgan climb into the front seat and start moving the steering wheel and he wanted to try as well. It wasn’t fair. “My turn. I get to try.” 

“No. You’re too little.” Morgan said to him and continued to pretend to drive the car. “Go sit in the back seat.” 

Peter crossed his arms over his chest and felt his bottom lip tremble. “No fair! I get my turn now.” 

Morgan ignored him. She continued to pretend to drive so Peter walked to try and open the back door again but he couldn’t get the door open so he walked around the car to get in on the passenger seat side but as he was walking around the back, he found a pretty rock on the ground and bent down to look at it. 

Peter squatted down and examined the blueish rock. “Pretty.” 

In the front seat, Morgan grabbed onto the gear shift and then felt the car start to roll back on the small hill that they were on. 

Back inside, Tony finished up with his shower and made his way downstairs. He still had to finish putting Peter’s bedroom together but he doubted the boy would be sleeping in there tonight anyways. 

“Hey, Pep. Where’re the kids?” Tony paused and smiled. “Woah. That sounds weird. Did you ever think we’d be saying that?” 

Pepper smiled at him. “Only dreamed it. And they’re outside. Morgan wanted to show Peter her fort.” 

Tony checked the time. It was still fairly early so he could go hang out with them for a bit until lunch. “I’m gonna go see what they’re up to.” 

Tony leaned over the couch to press a kiss to Pepper's forehead then he was walking to the door. He opened up the door and looked in the direction of Morgan’s fort and he didn’t see them but he didn’t think anything of it since they could be inside it. 

He started walking down the deck but then he saw Morgan in the driver's seat of the car and Peter squatting down behind it while the suv was slowly rolling back towards Peter. 

Tony felt his heart drop. “Peter. Peter!” 

He started running as fast as he could to grab Peter before the suv ran over his small body and possibly kill him after he just got him back. 

Peter turned around and stood up with the rock in his hand with a huge smile on his face, totally oblivious to the fact that the car was about to crush him. “look daddy. Pretty.” 

Tony wanted to close his eyes so he wouldn’t see what was about to happen. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as the car hit him and knocked him onto the ground so Tony quickly leaned forward and grabbed Peter by his shirt so he could lift him into the air so the car didn’t run over him. 

Peter immediately started crying but Tony didn’t care because crying meant alive. 

Tony didn’t have time to comfort Peter since the car was still rolling back and Morgan was sitting in the driver's seat. 

He grabbed Morgan by the arm that wasn’t holding onto Peter’s upper body clumsily. “Get out.” 

“Ow. Dad.” Morgan tried to pull her arm away from Tony’s grip. “You’re hurting me.” 

Tony didn’t say anything. He grabbed Morgan by the upper arm, probably accidentally bruising her in the process as he lifted her out of the car and placed her on the ground. 

By then, Pepper had no doubt heard all the screaming and crying so she ran out there. “What’s going on?!” 

Tony passed Peter to her who was still crying loudly. Tony jumped into the driver's seat and pressed the break, putting the car into park and putting the emergency break on. 

Once all that was done, he sighed and put his head in his hands. His heart was beating uncontrollably so he tried to let himself calm down but Peter was still crying so he got out of the car, slammed the door and held his arms out for Peter. 

Once he had Peter in his arms, he felt a little bit better but all he could think about was the fact that if he hadn’t gone outside at that exact second, then Peter would have gotten run over by the car. 

“Dad, I’m-” Morgan tried to say but Tony cut her off. 

“No. I don’t want to hear from you right now. Go to your room until I come talk to you.” Tony said firmly and pointed towards the house. He loved Morgan but he didn’t want to look at her at that moment. 

Morgan ran away crying but Tony didn’t have it in him to care. She knew better than to get in the car. 

Peter wrapped his arms tightly around Tony’s neck and tried to climb onto him tighter. He was trying to say something through his tears but Tony couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying so he just patted his back. 

“Shh, you’re okay. You’re okay.” Tony carries him into the house with Pepper following behind them. “It’s almost lunchtime but I’m gonna bring him up for his nap.” 

Pepper walked in front of Tony. “What happened? I just walked out in time to see you grabbing Morgan.” 

“I’ll explain it to you after Peter stops crying in my ear.” Tony walked past Pepper and went into the kitchen to fill up Peter’s sippy cup with water or something to calm him down but Pepper stopped him. 

“He isn’t going to eat lunch right now so I’ll pour him some milk in a bottle.” Pepper grabbed a bottle from the drawer filled with now all of Peter’s sippy cups and plastic plates and supposedly bottles. 

She poured milk until the halfway point and it brought back so many memories for Tony from when Morgan was younger. 

Pepper handed the bottle to Tony. “Thanks. I’ll be right back.” 

Tony shifted Peter on his hip and handed him the bottle but Peter threw it on the floor. “Peter. That wasn’t nice. Do you want it or not?” 

Tony bent down to pick it up and held it out for Peter. Peter looked at it for a few seconds and then grabbed it. “I wan’ it.” 

With another sigh, Tony walked up the stairs and walked into his bedroom. He laid Peter on the bed and pulled off his pants and underwear in one shirt motion then grabbed a pull-up from the box. “Hold your legs out.” 

Peter shook his head so Tony peeled the sides of the pull-up and lifted up Peter’s legs so he could put it in that way. Peter tried to kick him and when he missed it resulted in more crying so Tony reached over him to hand him back his bottle that had rolled away. 

He finished putting the pull-up on him and then pulled him up so he was laying on a pillow. Tony laid down next to him and brushed his hair off his face, he thought about how close that car came to running him over but the whole situation really made him open his eyes. 

Morgan was a child at the end of the day and the adults shouldn’t have left her in charge to watch Peter. She was fine when it was just her since she usually played all by herself but now she had a whole sibling to play with. It was no doubt causing for a disaster to happen. 

Peter turned to Tony and replaced the bottle for his thumb but he held the bottle close to his chest. Tony reaches over to grab Peter’s teddy bear and give that to him. 

“My bear.” Peter whispered as he grabbed the teddy bear. He then met his eyes shut so Tony stayed for a couple more minutes to make sure Peter was fully asleep before he got out of bed and went downstairs. 

Pepper was already making lunch in the kitchen when Tony came down. She turned to him, “Is he sleeping?” 

“Yeah.” Tony said then sat on the kitchen island stool. 

“Well, what happened?” Pepper asked, somewhat scared and annoyed. 

Tony sighed. He never wanted that to happen again. “I don’t know. I guess Morgan thought it would be a good idea to get into the car while Peter was behind it. All I saw was the car rolling backwards with Peter sitting right by the tire.” 

Tony took a few breaths to try and calm down but he knew he wouldn’t be getting that image out of his head anytime soon. “I- if I didn’t get there at the exact second that I did… Peter would have…” 

Pepper got the idea. She walked around the island to rub Tony’s arm. “It’s okay. Don’t think about that. You did get there and Peter and Morgan are both okay.” 

Tony put his head down and didn’t say anything. Pepper continued. “Think of this as an eye opener for ourselves, we now know that when the kids are outside, one of us is out there with them at all times. We have two babies now. Not one.” 

Tony smiled weakly. 

“You know what they say,” Pepper nudged him. “Having one kid is like having one kid but having two kids is like having one hundred kids. You gotta have eyes on the back of your head.” 

Tony nodded. It was definitely like that but he didn’t understand that until now. “I know. I’m gonna go talk to Morgan.” 

He made his way upstairs and knocked on Morgan’s bedroom door before pushing it open. She was sitting on her bed and drawing in her notebook with tear streaks on her cheeks. She looked up at Tony and smiled weakly at him then looked back down at her drawings. 

“What’re you drawing?” Tony asked as he sat down on her bed. 

“Me and Peter. He’s smiling in my picture.” Morgan explained and then shut her notebook to look over at her dad. “Is Peter mad at me?” 

“No, he’s not mad at you. No ones mad at you.” 

“You are.” 

Tony sighed. “I’m not mad, just disappointed in you.” 

Morgan looked at him with a dumb look on her face. “That’s even worse, dad.” 

“Alright. Well, I’m gonna talk to you about something important so I need you to really listen to me.” Tony waited for Morgan to show him that she was listening before he continued. 

“You’re an older sister now and I know that’s really hard for you to get used to because it all happened so suddenly and we all thought that Peter was going to be your older brother, I know how hard that is for you and you’re being really mature about that.” Tony gave Morgan a smile then continued. 

“That being said, Peter’s only five years old. He doesn’t know any better. He’s going to look up to you as his older sister and you have to set a good example for him to follow and help him.” Tony could see the wheels turning in Morgan’s head as he spoke. 

“So what you did today was very very dangerous and I don’t ever want to see that again. Do you understand me?” 

Morgan nodded her head. “Yes. I understand you.” 

“Good. The cars are off limits as they always were. Now what happened wasn’t your fault. It was mine and mom's fault because we should have been out there to watch you guys so we’re going to fix that.” Tony used to hate talks like these because he never knew what to say or how to act but Morgan had made him an expert at them. 

“Now, how about we go play quietly together until Peter wakes up?” Tony suggested, he learned earlier on to always end these talks on a positive note so Morgan didn’t pout for the rest of the day. He was going to use that with Peter when he needed to too. 

“Actually, can I go look at him napping?” Morgan asked so that’s where they headed off to. 

Tony opened the door quietly and then the two of them snuck into the room. He was glad that Morgan suggested this because he always loved to watch Peter sleep. Even when Peter was a teenager, Tony would sometimes go into his bedroom just to make sure Peter was okay and he would stay longer than necessary because he loved his kid. 

It was his way of getting to be with Peter but also not have to do anything but sit and relax which was never a thing with the kid. 

“He’s so cute.” Morgan whispered and slowly climbed onto the bed to look at Peter close up. 

He was sleeping with his thumb hanging loosely in his mouth. The five year old was laying on his side with one leg bent up a bit and the blankets kicked off of him. 

Morgan smiled and looked up at Tony. “He looks like a baby.” 

Tony carefully sat on the bed and made sure he didn’t wake his kid up. “That’s because he is a baby, Morg.” He said. Peter would always be his little baby no matter what age he was. He went through hell trying to get his kid back so he was allowed to baby Peter and call him a baby until the end of time. 

Morgan laughed then covered her mouth. He poked Peter’s pull-up that was visible since he kicked the blankets off of himself. “Can I change him after his nap?” 

Tony wasn’t sure Peter would like that. Plus it wasn’t really a diaper change, just a quick wipe and underwear goes back on. “I don’t know. How about you watch me, okay?” 

Morgan stuck her bottom lip out. “But I’m his big sister and I want to help.” 

“How about you ask him and if he says yes then you can change him?” Tony suggested since he knew it was up to Peter at the end of the day. 

“Yay.” Morgan laid down so she was spooning Peter but not touching him. Tony looked down at his two babies. He had been thinking this a lot over the last few days but he couldn’t be happier. This is what he had wanted so badly for the last ten years. 

They stayed in the same position for a few more minutes until Peter started to wake up slowly. He stretched his legs out and turned on his stomach to look at Morgan. He pushed himself up a bit and when his eyes landed on Tony, he grinned and pushed his face back into the bed. 

“Did you sleep good, Peter?” Morgan asked him, putting her hand to rest on his back. She then patted Peter’s butt and looked back to grin at Tony who rolled his eyes at the action. 

Peter turned on his back and lifted his legs to his chest. “I wan’ I wan’ to go on the swing again.” 

“It’s lunch time now, Peter. Then me and daddy are gonna finish with your bedroom.” Morgan explained to the five year old. 

Peter put his legs down and lifted his shirt up to rub his belly. “I’m hungry. I didn’t even eat no lunch. Sometimes-sometimes I forget.” 

Tony laughed at his kids' nonsense and got out of the bed. “You ready to get changed and head downstairs?” 

Peter grinned when he looked at Tony again. He sat up and crawled over to the man. “Daddy. Up.” 

Tony lifted Peter up and held him on his hip but melted when Peter laid his head on his chest. Maybe he could just hold his kid for a bit. 

Morgan walked over to the pull-up box and pulled out a new pull-up. “Can I change you, Peter?” 

Tony walked over to her, “He doesn’t need a new pull-up, Morg. He’s awake now.” 

Peter lifted his head up and reached down. “I wear my pull-up.” 

“You don’t need one right now.” Tony swung Peter over to his other hip and grabbed a pair of clean underwear. 

He stood Peter up on the bed and went to go pull off his pull-up but Peter threw himself onto the bed and started giggling. “Come back here you little monkey.” 

“No! I run!” Peter started crawling away from Tony on the bed so Tony grabbed him by the back of his pull-up and pulled him back towards the edge of the bed. 

“You’re not going anywhere.” Tony said playfully and quickly unstrapped the pull-up from Peter while he held him down with his other hand. 

He tossed the wet pull-up on the bed and grabbed the wipes off the nightstand table to make quick work of wiping Peter down while he squirmed around and laughed under him. 

“Okay. All done. Can you pass me his underwear, Morg?” Tony asked but then Peter let out a whimper and sent a kick in his direction. 

“No! No underwear. I wan’ my pull-up.” Peter demanded and Tony sighed. Peter didn’t need those while he was awake. 

“I want to help him, daddy. Please.” Morgan grabbed onto Tony’s arm to beg him. 

“No underwear! No underwear!” Peter chanted. Tony was already counting down the hours until bedtime now. 

“Dad, I-” 

Morgan was cut off by Pepper calling Tony from downstairs so Tony looked fine at Morgan, “Okay. Help Peter finish getting dressed and then come downstairs for lunch.” 

“Yay! Okay.” Morgan cheered and watched her dad run off then she was picking up the underwear and walking towards the bed. “I’m gonna help you, Peter.” 

Peter sat up and hit the air with his arm. “No! I wan’ pull-up. Pull-up pull-up!” 

Morgan looked around confused. “Well… daddy said you have to wear underwear because you’re awake.” 

Peter shook his head. “Daddy poo poo. He smells like poo poo!” 

Morgan started laughing at that and then they were both laughing with each other. Morgan loved having someone to laugh with, especially because now she got a best friend to laugh with forever. 

She put the underwear down and moved to grab a pull-up out of the box. If Peter wanted to wear one then he was allowed. “Okay, I’ll help you put it on then.” 

Peter clapped his hands excitedly and waited for Morgan to help him even though he knew he could do it by himself. 

Morgan opened the straps on the side like she does with her baby dolls. “You have to lay down though.” 

Peter laid down on the bed and waited for Morgan to help him. “Like this? But-but daddy just better at it.” 

Morgan ignored him since she was trying to concentrate because it was harder with a real baby. “You’re not listening to me.” 

“I don’ know how.” Peter shrugged. He didn’t know what he was doing wrong. 

Morgan grabbed one of his legs and lifted him up a bit so she could put the diaper under him and then finish doing up the side straps. “Yay. I did it. Now I have to get you dressed.” 

Morgan grabbed a pair of red track pants from the laundry basket and she helped Peter put them on before they headed downstairs. 

Tony got downstairs after Pepper had called him, leaving Morgan and Peter alone. 

He went into the living room where Pepper was on her computer so he sat down next to her, concerned about the worried look she had on her face. 

“I heard Peter wake up,” Pepper said then placed her computer on Tony’s lap. “Someone took pictures of us at the grocery store and it’s already on almost every single media outlet.” 

Tony read the titles of the articles and saw the pictures that were posted. One of the titles read, Tony Stark’s dusted ‘child’ is now a toddler, and it showed a picture of Peter from when he was fifteen that the press got all those years ago. Seeing that picture hurt Tony because it held so many memories that he thought of all those years. The next picture was of Tony in the process of picking Peter up at the grocery store. 

The article went on to say how Tony Stark’s supposed son, which was rumoured to be Peter ten years ago when he started hanging out with the kid in public, came back from being dusted and is now a toddler. 

Tony didn’t understand why they were saying Peter was a toddler but he’d take it. He guessed it’s because no one truly knew Peter’s age back then since Tony kept it hidden from public knowledge so now Peter could be anywhere from three to seven. Not that he looked three years old or seven. 

He looked at more articles with another picture of Peter sitting in the shopping cart but unlike the other picture with Peter’s head facing away from the camera, this picture had Peter looking directly at the camera so it hit his full face. 

Tony mentally cursed. He never wanted his kids' life in the public. The article title read, The dusted have returned and Tony Stark’s son is back and is adorable. Tony couldn’t agree with that but he still didn’t approve of it. 

“How many articles are there?” Tony asked, worried about the attention that will be on Peter. 

“Couple hundred. There’s only three pictures going around though.” Pepper supplied for him. She hated this just as much as he did. 

“What’s the other picture?” Tony asked, hoping it wasn’t another one of Peter’s face. 

Pepper took the computer from him and searched up the other photo. She turned the computer around to show Tony, it was a picture of Tony holding Peter on his hip at the cashier while he held the box of diapers in his other hand. 

That was private information that the world didn’t need to know. It was no one’s business whether his son wore diapers or not and now everybody knew. 

“This is just great.” Tony said sarcastically and shut the computer. 

The attention stopped being focused on him and his family a little while after Morgan was born and now that Peter was back and supposedly a toddler, all the attention was back on his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah! That was scary. Morgan almost killed Peter right after Tony got his baby back


	10. I choose you, my baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been in quarantine for over 3 months now which is crazyyyyyy omg! I want to go back to work!

Peter and Morgan came running down the stairs a few minutes later and Tony wasn’t about to worry about what was going on with the media and his son's face getting leaked. He didn’t want to stress about it in front of his kids so he put his worries away. 

“Hi daddy.” Peter smiled at him and walked over to the living room. Tony looked at his kids outfit and was happy that Morgan had managed to get Peter dressed. 

“Hi baby. You hungry for lunch now?” Tony asked him, already standing up to go feed his kid. 

Peter nodded his head and grabbed Tony’s hand on the way to the kitchen. 

“Are you hungry too, Morg? Do you want lunch now?” Tony asked his first born as they all walked into the kitchen. Morgan was nodding her head so Tony went to go whip up some lunch but then he remembered Peter’s booster seat chair. “Let’s go get Peter’s new booster seat first.” 

Tony walked over to the doorway where there were still a bunch of bags that hadn’t been emptied yet. Both kids followed him and then Peter was squatting down to help Tony with the box. 

“This for me.” Peter said happily. 

“Yeah. It is, baby. Let’s open it and put it on the chair.” Tony lifted the box onto the kitchen island so Morgan climbed onto the chair to watch Tony open it but Peter was reaching up for him. 

“Can’t see. Wan’ see it.” Peter desperately grabbed at Tony’s arm so Tony lifted Peter onto the counter so he could sit and watch him open it. 

“Is this for me now?” Peter asked Tony while he helped Morgan pull the seat out. 

“Yeah. It’s for you until you can reach the table.” Tony explained to him. They pulled the seat out of the box and placed it on the chair. It was a dark teal colour with white plastic on the sides. There were buckles on the inside but Tony didn’t think that Peter would need that if he listened and sat down. 

Tony made sure the booster seat was secured to the chair before putting Peter in it. “Let’s put you in it now, Pete.” Tony lifted his arms out for Peter then lifted his kid off the counter and into the seat. “Do you like it?” 

Peter nodded his head happily. “I love it so much. It goes like zroom zroom.” 

Tony laughed at Peter’s imitation of a car. “It’s not your car seat, Pete.” Tony kissed Peter on the nose and then went to start making lunch for the two of them. 

Pepper had already started boiling some kraft dinner so all he had to do was add the milk and cheese and fill up some sippy cups, well, one sippy cup and one glass. 

“Lunch is served.” Tony placed the bowls in front of the two of them and then handed Morgan her glass and Peter his sippy cup. 

Peter reached his arms out for Tony and made grabby hands. “I wan’ my baba.” 

“No, you don’t need your baba. You have your sippy cup.” Tony told him and sat down on the stool next to Peter. 

“No. I wan’ baba. It upstairs. I go get it.” Peter tried to climb off the stool but Tony stopped him. 

“Eat your lunch,” Tony put a bunch of food on the fork and held it up to Peter’s mouth but Peter moved his head away. “Open up.” 

Peter shook his head. “No, not this one. I wan’-I wan’ my baba!” 

Pepper walked over to the kitchen island and leaned against the table. “What’s wrong, Peter?” 

Peter pointed to the stairs sadly and made a sound of distress. “I don’t understand, you have to use your big boy words.” 

“I wan’ baba.” Peter said, now close to tears. Pepper picked up Peter’s sippy cup and looked at it. 

“Woah. I like this one. It’s so cool, don’t you think it’s cool, Morgan?” Pepper asked her daughter who was eating peacefully next to Peter. 

“Yeah. I like it.” Morgan commented and then Peter was reaching out for it. 

“I see.” Peter reached for the sippy cup and examined it for a few seconds before putting it in his mouth and sucking on it. Tony sighed. 

He looked up at Pepper with thankful eyes. He had no idea how she was always so good at these kinds of things. He couldn’t get kids to do anything without bribing them. 

Peter finished drinking and put his cup down then started to pick his fork up to eat. Tony stood up and caressed the back of Peter’s head. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom so I’ll be back in a second.” 

Peter turned around to look at him. “Are you gonna go pee pee, daddy?” 

“Yeah, daddy’s gotta go pee so I’ll be right back.” Tony laughed at his kid and then disappeared into the bathroom. After he was done, he walked out and back over to the kitchen island. 

He saw that Morgan had finished eating and was now feeding Peter forkfuls of his food and as cute as it was, Peter wasn’t a baby and he had to feed himself otherwise he’d get depended on Morgan to feed him his food. 

“Let him feed himself, Morgan.” Tony told her and sat down on the stool. Morgan reluctantly stopped feeding Peter but Peter was holding his mouth open for another bite. 

When no one was feeding him, he shut his mouth and looked over at Morgan. “Feed me.” Peter demanded and picked his fork up to hand it to her. 

“Nope. You can feed yourself.” Tony pushed his bowl closer to himself so he could eat. “Show me how you feed yourself.” 

Peter shook his head and pointed to Morgan. “She feeds me.” 

“No, Peter. How old are you?” Tony asked him but then he realized that Peter might not even know how old he is. 

“I… I four.” Peter held up two fingers on his hand and Tony couldn’t help but laugh at that. 

“Okay, that’s two.” Tony told him. 

Peter looked at his hand offended. “I two?” 

“No. You’re five years old. Hold up five fingers for me.” Tony loved the goofy look on Peter’s face but he was a bit concerned that he didn’t even know how old he was. 

Peter held up five fingers and grinned. “I five!” 

“Yeah! And five year olds feed themselves so show me how you eat.” Tony said with enthusiasm in his voice so Peter would get excited and start feeding himself which he did. “Good job, buddy. Look at you.” 

Peter clapped for himself and then continued to eat until everything was almost gone. He handed Tony his fork with a smile covered in cheese. “All gone.” 

“Good job my baby.” Tony lifted Peter out of the chair and grabbed both of his kids' bowls so he could put them in the sink. Peter ran off with his sippy cup towards the playroom where Morgan ran to. 

“I’m gonna clean the kitchen before I go so do you wanna go watch them?” Tony asked Pepper since he felt comfortable if him or Pepper was there to watch Peter. 

“I’m going there right now.” Pepper walked by to kiss Tony and then she was off to the playroom. 

Peter was climbing on the box that his car seat came in while Morgan was playing with her dolls in the corner. Pepper walked over and sat down next to Peter while he climbed on top of the box. 

“Look how high up I can go. I go all the way to the top.” Peter went to stand on the box but he almost fell over so Pepper held his hand. 

“How about you just sit on the box for now.” Pepper suggested as she helped Peter back down. 

“Yeah. Maybe I just sit. I too little.” Peter stood up and laid on the box on his stomach then started giggling at Peppers face. 

After he was done he crawled over to Morgan and took one of her dolls away from her to bring over to Pepper. “Hey! No! That’s mine!” 

Peter hesitated and still tried to bring the doll over to Pepper but Morgan grabbed him by the shirt to stop him. “Morgan, stop. You do not grab Peter like that. Peter, Morgan is playing with her dolls so give it back to her.” 

Peter hesitated again before he handed the doll back to Morgan. Pepper felt bad since Peter didn’t have any of his own toys to play with yet. There were still tons of toys but not that many for him to play with. 

“Peter, how about we play with some teddy bears together?” Pepper suggested but Peter shook his head. He looked around the room for something to play with and then smiled when he saw some foam blocks in the corner. 

The two of them worked on stacking some blocks up but then Peter stood up and made his way into the corner and squatted down. Pepper knew that position all too well but she didn’t know why Peter was doing it. 

“Are you going poop?” Pepper asked him and then Peter was grinning but shaking his head. 

Pepper didn’t know what to do since she was still learning about Peter and everything that he did, such as pooping in the corner. 

About a minute later, Peter crawled over to Pepper and squatted down there again. She tried to smell near him but he didn’t smell like poop. “Do you need to go poo poo?” 

Peter shook his head. He grabbed some more blocks and continued to stack his blocks just as Tony walked in. 

“What are you guys up to in here?” Tony sat down next to Pepper and saw the stack of blocks they were stacking. Morgan was in her corner playing with her babies and he knew she liked to be left alone to do that. 

“I think Peter went poo in the corner,” Pepper admitted and looked over at Tony. Peter was watching the two of them without a care in the world. 

“What? What do you mean? Like he went poop in the corner?” Tony looked around the room but he didn’t see or smell anything. 

“No, he went poop in his pants.” Pepper said and then Peter looked away and looked down at his blocks. 

Tony looked over at Peter who was trying so hard to ignore them. “Did you go poop in your pants, Peter?” 

Peter looked up at Tony and shook his head. “I didn’t.” 

“So if I check your bum then I won’t find any poops?” Tony asked him and Peter shook his head, probably not understanding the question. 

Tony walked on his knees over to Peter and leaned down to smell his bum but he immediately smelt a poop so he moved his head away. “Yeah, he went poo. Okay. That’s nice.” 

Peter shook his head. “I didn’t.” 

“Stand up then and let me check.” Tony waited for Peter to stand up but he heard the cringe of the diaper. “Wait, are you wearing your diaper, Peter?” 

Peter shook his head and Morgan was looking over. “I don’.” 

“I can hear the crinkle. Let me see,” Tony tugged down the back of Peter’s pants and saw that he was wearing his pull-up. “Morgan. Why is Peter wearing a pull-up after I said no pull-ups?” 

Morgan stood up and walked over to them. “Peter didn’t want to put his underwear on.” 

Tony pulled back the back of Peter’s pull-up and saw that he went poop and now he had to go change him after he already went through the diaper stage but apparently that wasn’t done with just yet. 

“Peter, why did you poo your pants? You go in the toilet because daddy doesn’t want to change dirty diapers.” Tony sighed and stood up. 

Peter was looking up at him and slowly reached behind to grab onto his pants so Tony grabbed his hand to bring him upstairs so he could change him into some underwear. Peter ran to keep up with Tony. 

“Daddy, I was playin’ with the blocks.” Peter told Tony as they walked up the stairs and headed into the bedroom. 

“Yeah. Was that before or after you went poo?” Tony asked him, not expecting an answer from Peter. 

“Um, maybe it was after.” Peter answered while Tony grabbed some clean underwear and wipes. He lifted Peter on the bed so he was laying down and pulled his pants off, hesitating before doing the same with his pull-up. 

“You know, daddy really wants you to go poop in the toilet like a big boy.” Tony told Peter but then realized that his pull-up was really full. Tony grabbed the front and felt that Peter had gone pee as well. He sighed. “Peter. I thought you were five.” 

“I am, daddy.” Peter said, innocently. 

Tony couldn’t be mad at him. He knew this had something to do with the dusting and de-aging and maybe also the fact that Peter was potty trained at four years old according to May and video evidence. 

“Okay,” Tony hadn’t done this in over six years. He pulled the sides off and slid the pull-up out, holding his breath and holding Peter’s legs up in the air with one hand while he wiped him clean with the other hand. 

“Daddy, cold. It’s cold.” Peter tried to move away but Tony held him still until he could finish getting all the poop off so it wouldn’t go on the bed. 

Tony didn’t know how it managed to get everywhere on Peter so it took awhile but he eventually got him all clean and let go of his ankles so he could throw the dirty pull-up up. 

When he walked back into the room, Peter was trying to pull a pull-up out of the box. “No. You don’t need that until bedtime.” 

Peter threw himself to the floor. “No. I wan’ it.” 

Tony lifted him up and laid him back down on the bed to help him put his underwear on but Peter was kicking him. “Peter. Stop, everyone in this house wears underwear because we all use the potty like big people. Pull-ups are for sleeping.” 

Peter kicked him again and tried to crawl away. “No! I don’ like it.” 

Tony let go of Peter’s leg and sighed. He sat down on the bed defeated. “Please. I’ll give you some candy.” 

Peter shook his head and pointed to the box on the floor. “I wan’ my pull-up!” 

“No.” 

“Yes!” 

“No, Peter. Enough.” 

Peter’s face scrunched up and then he started crying. Peter’s cries were so much louder than when Morgan was his age. It hurt his ears. Peter made grabby hands for him but Tony didn’t make any move to pick him up which only made Peter cry harder. 

“I-I wan’... hold me, daddy. I,” Peter cried desperately for Tony and he felt so bad that he couldn’t help his kid but he couldn’t give in to him. He knew that but he really really wanted to. 

“Are you gonna wear your underwear?” Tony asked him and held the Underoos up. 

Peter shook his head and cried harder. “No!” 

“Okay,” Tony stood up and moved to walk out of the room but Peter started crying harder. “I’m gonna leave and come back when you calm down and decide to put on your underwear.” 

Tony left the room after that and shut the door. His heart was shattering into a million pieces having to listen to his baby boy cry. It was painful. He leaned against the door and felt tears burn his eyes so he left and went downstairs to pour himself a glass of apple juice which is what he did whenever he wanted to drink. 

Pepper was already starting on dinner in the kitchen. “Is he okay?” 

“He refuses to put underwear on because he wants his diapers.” Tony tilted his head back so he could take his sip of apple juice. 

“Then wait down here until he calms down and try again. He’s just doing this for attention.” Pepper didn’t like it when Tony took his apple juice shots because she knew it was because it meant he wanted to take an actual shot. 

Tony started pacing the kitchen. He could still hear Peter and it killed him that he couldn’t go comfort him. “I’ve waited ten years for my kid. Ten years. I didn’t know it would be ten years, I didn’t think I’d ever see him again and-and now I have my baby back and I’m letting him…cry. He wants me.” 

“You can’t give him what he wants right now.” Pepper warned her husband but she could see that he already made up his mind. “Tony.” 

“I can’t, Pep.” Tony put his glass down and rushed back upstairs to get his kid who needed him. 

He opened the door and saw Peter in the same position on the bed with a red, blotchy face. Once he saw his dad, he was reaching out for him desperately so Tony leaned over the bed to pick his baby up. 

“Daddy. Daddy.” Peter cried into his shoulder. Tony stood up and rocked him in his arms while Peter’s cries died down and turned into sad hiccups. 

“Daddy’s here. I’m here. I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Tony continued to rock Peter side to side for a few more seconds and then he was sitting down on the bed and turning Peter on his lap. 

He knew he shouldn’t but at this point he didn’t care what he should and shouldn’t do. He grabbed a pull-up and helped Peter into it then lifted him back into his arms to hold him again. 

“Is that better?” Tony asked him, standing up and holding Peter on his hip. Peter nodded his head against Tony’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his dad's neck. 

Tony needed some alone time with his baby. He grabbed a blanket and threw it over his arm then made his way downstairs. 

Pepper sighed sadly once she saw the pull-up on Peter but Tony didn’t care. 

“I’m taking Peter in the bed swing for a bit. Can you tell Morgan that daddy needs his time with Peter and not to bug us.” Tony told Pepper and then walked outside with Peter cuddling against him. 

Tony walked across the yard and crawled into the bed swing awkwardly since he didn’t want to let go of Peter. He laid down and brought Peter close to his side then covered them both with the blanket. He kicked off the side so they could swing a bit. 

Tony looked down at his kid and saw that Peter had his thumb in his mouth and that his eyes were slowly closing. 

Tony didn’t know why he asked his next question but he felt like he had to. “Pete, do you remember what happened before you… went away?” 

Peter opened his eyes fully and moved his head so he could look up at Tony. He didn’t say anything so Tony spoke again, “Do you remember Titan? And when you helped me up after… after that?” 

Peter still didn’t say anything. Tony didn’t know if it was because he didn’t remember or he simply didn’t understand what Tony was saying. 

“Do you remember when we used to work in the lab together? And you used to fall asleep on your work desk so I would carry you over to the couch that I put in our lab just for you. I never admitted that though. Why didn’t I admit it?” Tony whispered the last thing to himself. He knew Peter didn’t remember, he didn’t think he did anyways and that kinda upset him but that was okay. 

He’d make a million more memories. 

Tony brushed Peter’s baby curls off his face. “My baby. I can still picture your teen face right now. Isn’t it weird that I know what you’re gonna look like when you’re older? That’s always supposed to be a surprise to parents.” Tony was just speaking out loud at this point and Peter was taking comfort in Tony’s voice. 

“You know, one time, over ten years ago, when you were fourteen and you were sleeping over for the first time,” Tony smiled at the memory. “I was talking to Pepper over the phone and I told her that I just put my kid to bed instead of the kid and I just remember how right it felt.” 

“I was already thinking of you as my kid for a while even though we just met but… we were just meant to be. We always were.” Tony tapped Peter on the nose and got a grin out of him. 

“I love you so much my baby. So freaking much it hurts and I’m so happy I have you back.” Tony kissed Peter on the cheek and watched as Peter’s eyes started to flutter shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh!! I’m sooooo freaking excited for you guys to read the next chapter omg omg omg


	11. When you’re gone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh I’m sooo excited for you guys to read this chapter:) enjoy

Tony and Peter stayed there for pretty much the rest of the day. 

Pepper must have realized that both Tony and Peter just needed to be with each other so she brought their dinner out to them and kept Morgan inside. 

Tony carried Peter inside after it started to get dark and changed him into a fresh pull-up and pyjamas then laid in bed with him. Tony wasn’t necessarily tired but he wanted to be with his kid and he knew he would fall asleep either way. 

Morgan ran into the bedroom, dressed in her pyjamas and stood by the edge of the bed. “Can I sleep with you guys, daddy?” 

Tony rolled over to give her a reassuring smile. “Yeah, jump in.” 

Morgan happily crawled into bed and cuddled in next to Peter but Peter already had his face pressed into Tony’s chest and was passed out. “Is he sleeping?” 

Tony brushed the curls on Peter’s forehead. “Yeah. He’s tired.” 

Pepper walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later and saw her whole family in bed with their newest youngest member. 

“We’re having another sleepover?” Pepper asked, amused as she crawled into bed and turned her lamp off so it was dark in the room now. 

“I wanted to join you guys.” Morgan said then cuddled up close to Pepper once she got comfortable in bed. 

Tony has all the people he cared most about in the bed so he closed his eyes and went to sleep while making sure to keep Peter close to him. 

Tony didn’t wake up once throughout the night which was a rare occurrence. He woke up to the sun coming through the curtains and hitting him in the face so he lifted the blankets up to try and block out some of the light. 

A few minutes later, Tony rolled over in the bed and realized that everyone was already awake since he was alone. He wished they were still sleeping since he liked to wake up to their faces but he must have slept late so he got out of bed and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and go pee before heading downstairs. 

He saw Peter sitting on the kitchen stool in his booster seat with his back to him, eating something. He looked around the room but Pepper and Morgan weren’t anywhere in sight. 

“Good morning, Pete. Have you been up for awhile?” Tony asked him, running his fingers through his hair as he passed by to make himself a coffee. 

Peter turned his head to look at him and grinned. “Hi daddy. I eatin’ pancake!” 

“Wow. I can see that, baby. Is it yummy?” Tony asked him and leaned against the corner to watch his kid pick apart his pancake into tiny pieces. 

Peter nodded his head and slipped another piece into his mouth. “Yummy.” 

Tony turned around to pour his coffee into his cup but he realized that he hadn’t even turned it on yet so he sighed and went to go turn it on but then he heard Peter calling him. 

He turned around and saw that Peter was already down the hall, heading for the playroom. Tony looked at him confused, he didn’t know how Peter got out of his booster seat himself and made it all the way down the hallway so quickly. 

“Pete? Where are you going?” Tony asked him, already starting to walk slowly towards Peter. He wanted to walk faster but his legs wouldn’t move any faster. 

“I wanna play, daddy.” Peter said with a giggle and ran off into the playroom. 

Tony sighed and walked down the hallway to get to his kid. When he got to the steps, Peter was sitting on the playmate with his back to him and stacking his blocks. 

Tony walked over to him and sat down. “Wanna build a tower, baby?” 

Peter nodded, concentrating on building his blocks. “Come play with me, daddy.” 

“I am, Petey. I’m sitting right next to you.” Tony went to grab one of the blocks but Peter snatched it from him quickly and then smiled at him innocently. 

Tony sat there and watched Peter stack the blocks on top of each other, one by one when suddenly Peter called him. “Daddy?” 

“Yeah, baby?” Tony asked, looking at the playmat on the ground. 

Peter turned to him so Tony looked up at him. “I don’t wanna go.” 

Tony felt his heart drop. That brought back too many bad memories. “W-what? Go where, baby?” 

Peter’s face scrunched up then there was so much fear written on his face. He looked up at Tony with wide, fearful eyes. “I don’t wanna go. I don’t wanna go, daddy.” 

“Peter.” Tony whispered. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest that it hurt. No. Not again. He just got his kid back. Thanos is dead. 

“Daddy, I don’t wanna go.” Peter stood up and lifted his hands up to examine them. He took a wobbly step towards Tony and suddenly there was a large distance between the two of them. 

“You’re okay. Peter, please. Don’t.” Tony felt tears pouring down his face now. He couldn’t go through this again. He couldn’t go through another ten years without his kid. He wouldn’t. 

Peter stumbled towards Tony and fell into his arms just like that day on Titan only this time it was his five year old kid and they won. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. 

A few days with his kid couldn’t make up for the ten years he mourned him for. 

“Don’t go. Not again, Peter.” Tony clung on tightly to his kid as if that alone could stop Peter from turning to dust again. 

“It h-hurts, Daddy.” Peter cried out so Tony laid Peter on the floor and cupped his face. 

“No. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Tony said to reassure himself. He didn’t want his kid to leave him again. He wouldn’t survive it this time. 

“Daddy. I’m sorry. I-I don’ wanna leave you but I have to.” Peter whimpered and looked away from Tony with a distant gaze on his face. 

Tony’s worst fear started to come true. Peter began turning to dust right in front of his eyes. Then, just as it was on Titan, Peter turned to dust in his arms, leaving Tony to pick up the pieces from the ground where his kid once laid. 

“Peter. No. No!” Tony could feel just heart pounding and the tears pouring freely down his face. 

He stood up and stumbled out of the playroom. He couldn’t breathe. His kid was gone. Peter was gone. 

Suddenly, Tony woke up with a gasp. 

He was soaking wet from sweating so hard but he still couldn’t breathe and his heart was still pounding just as loud. 

Tony turned on the bed to grab Peter but his hand fell to an empty, cold spot. No. Nononononono. 

It was just like all those other dreams he had where he was with his kid and then he woke up to grab Peter next to him but Peter wasn’t there. 

“No.” Tony whispered and started to move the blankets around to find his kid but Peter wasn’t anywhere. No. 

Pepper woke up from the noise and movement and sat up in bed, turning on the lamp. “Tony. What’s wrong?” 

Tony continued to feel around on the bed for Peter, completely delirious from the dream he had. “Peter. Where’s Peter?” 

“Peter?” Pepper asked him confused and that was it for Tony. He shot up from the bed and clenched his chest. Pepper spoke the same way she used to whenever he woke up from a dream about Peter and asked where his kid was. 

This whole thing was just a dream. He never actually got Peter back. He was just living in a beautiful dream that he wanted to go back into. 

Pepper rushed out of bed and ran down the hall to find the boy. She saw Morgan’s bedroom light on and shoved the door open. 

Peter and Morgan were dressed in their pyjamas and having a tea party and both looked at her surprised. 

Pepper rushed over to Peter so she could grab him and bring him to Tony so he saw that Peter was in fact here. 

“Mommy, I’m sorry. Peter woke up and wanted me to play. Don’t hurt him, mommy. Mommy!” Morgan started to panic after Pepper grabbed Peter by the arm and lifted him up without saying anything. 

Morgan chased after them as she carried Peter back to their bedroom so Tony could see that he wasn’t dreaming. 

She turned the corner and saw that Tony was sitting against the wall with the colour drained from his face and his legs stretched out in front of him. 

Pepper carried Peter over to Tony and placed the five year old on Tony’s lap. 

She didn’t want Peter to have to witness Tony after one of his horrible nightmares that was sadly because of Peter. Although there was no other way, Tony had to see for himself that his kid was very much alive. 

Tony could barely register Peter being placed on his lap. He was too scared that it was all just another dream. 

“Daddy?” Peter spoke and it brought him right back to his dream. “Why you crying?” 

Tony looked down at Peter and felt his breath start to come back a bit but it couldn’t be. He looked up at Pepper and shook his head. 

“Dad, why are you crying?” Morgan asked, scared. “Why is dad crying, mom?” 

“Morgan. I need you to go back to your room and wait until I come get you. Now, Morgan!” Pepper pointed towards the door so Morgan ran off. She focused her attention back onto Tony. “Tony. It’s okay. You just had a bad dream. Peter is right here, look at him.” 

Tony refused to look at Peter. He felt like he was paralyzed with fear and he didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that this was all just a dream too even if it felt so real. 

“I’m dreaming. It… it was all a dream, Pep.” Tony whispered out and shook his head in denial. 

Pepper cupped his face. “No. No, Tony. We won. You won. You got Peter back. We took him home and we went swimming in the lake with Morgan and she calls him her baby brother. We went grocery shopping together and ate lunch. You-you cleaned up his poop yesterday. It’s all real.” 

Tony shook his head again even though it was starting to make sense. 

Pepper nodded her head. “Yes. If that was all a dream then how would I know about it? How would I share the same memories as you? It’s all real, Tony. Just look at Peter.” 

The whole time Peter had his head resting on Tony’s chest and was sucking on his thumb to try and calm himself down. 

Tony looked down at his kid and brought his arms up so he could lift Peter up to see his face. Peter let out a whine at the movement and tried to rest his head against Tony’s shoulder once he was lifted up but Tony held him in front of him. 

He tried to examine his kids face. Peter was alive. He was holding his kid. He could feel his weight in his arms and the warmth radiating off of him. 

“Peter?” Tony asked. He needed to hear his voice and to really know that his kid was alive and real. 

Peter reached for Tony and whimpered. “Daddy. Why you cryin’?” 

Tony cupped Peter’s face and felt a few tears slide down his cheeks so Peter brought his tiny hand up to his cheeks and wiped away the fallen tears. 

“Don’ cry, daddy. Please don’ cry.” Peter said innocently and so Tony smiled at him. Alive. Peter was alive and real. 

“I won’t cry anymore. I just had a bad dream but you made it all better.” Tony took a few calming breaths and then stood up with Peter in his arms and walked back to the bed. 

Pepper had left to go get Morgan but he wasn’t focused on that right now. 

Tony knew he wasn’t going to be getting anymore sleep that night but Peter still needed to sleep and so Tony planned on watching him sleep until the morning came. 

A few minutes later, everyone was back in bed and sound asleep except for Tony. He was used to pulling all nighters even though that was something he did in the past but he could do it for another night. 

Tony’s eyes were glued on his kid. He watched as Peter moved around so that he put his arm above his head and his other hand near his mouth to suck on his thumb with his head facing Tony. 

Tony watched him well into the morning even though his eyes were burning and begging for him to go to sleep, he just couldn’t. He wanted to say awake in fear of having another nightmare like that again. 

At around seven in the morning, Peter was waking up and lifting his head up to look at Tony. He had massive bed head hair with his curls sticking up all over the place. Tony loved seeing that. 

“Good morning, Pete. Did you have good dreams?” As horrible as his dream was, Tony would have a thousand more just so Peter wouldn’t have to experience a dream like that. 

“Uh huh.” Peter sat up on his knees and lifted his arms up for Tony. “I wan’ breakfast. I’m hungry.” 

“Alright. Let’s go make some breakfast and then later today maybe we can go for a hike together.” Tony suggested. 

Him, Pepper and Morgan used to go on hikes almost every morning but they stopped that a little over two years ago because Tony was finding it harder and harder to get out of bed every single day so he slept in pretty late most days. 

Tony lifted Peter into his arms and set him on his hip, deciding to get Peter changed into clothes after breakfast. He kissed Peter’s cheek on the way downstairs but stopped walking when Peter pointed to a picture of himself on the wall. 

“Me!” Peter pointed to a picture of himself when he was a teen since that’s all they had of him at the moment. There were about 1000 pictures of Peter taken since he arrived back into the world but they hadn’t gotten the pictures developed yet. 

“Yeah, bud. That’s you before… do you remember?” Tony pointed to another picture of Peter that was taken about a week before he got dusted. He was sitting on a deck looking out to the lake while Tony stood behind him to hold him. 

That was probably Tony’s favourite picture of all times. It brought back so many memories that were so painful to think of before but now all it did was bring him peace. 

Peter reached out to touch the picture. “And that one's daddy.” 

Tony smiled. “Yeah, baby.” 

As much as Tony loved that picture, he grabbed it to take it off the wall. Peter was five years old so he didn’t need to look at teenagers' Peter pictures when he had his five year old. 

“We need to put up new pictures around the house, don’t you think, Pete?” Tony walked down the stairs and placed the picture frame on the kitchen table. 

“I think so. I like to sit on my chair.” Peter said which had nothing to do with what Tony was saying. He didn’t mind the child talk, he actually missed it since Morgan was older now and could hold a conversation. 

“There you go.” Tony sat Peter in his booster seat and dragged the chair over so he could be close to him while he made breakfast. “Do you want your sippy cup?” 

“I wan’ my bottle.” Peter said and made grabby hands for Tony but Tony knew he couldn’t give Peter his bottle. It was a one time thing but he couldn’t get Peter too depended on it. 

“I’m gonna give you some apple juice in your special sippy cup.” Tony opened the fridge to grab the apple juice and looked over at Peter who was watching him from his seat that Tony dragged over. 

“Daddy? I wanna go swimmin’ again.” Peter told Tony and grabbed the sippy cup that was handed to him. 

Tony didn’t know what the weather would be like today. Mornings were always the worst time to go swimming since the water was still cold from the night, and so the best time to go swimming in the lake would be after dinner and before bedtime. 

“Maybe later if the weather is nice then we can go swimming again after dinner.” Tony told him and got started on breakfast. 

Peter didn’t say anything since he was watching Tony with wide eyes and drinking his juice. Tony enjoyed the comfortable silence with Peter. He used to hate it. 

After the snap and after he got out of the infirmary, it was always too quiet. Way too quiet, almost painfully deafening and after they had Morgan, the deafness was filled up once again but there was still always something missing. 

And that something was Peter. 

Tony always knew it was his first born that was what was missing and some days it was harder to deal with than others and that made him hate the silence but now, for the first time in ten years, he found that he liked it and it brought him comfort. 

But the silence didn’t last long because there was banging coming from upstairs which meant that Morgan was waking up. 

She came down the stairs, already dressed and ready for the day which she had been doing since she was four. 

Tony always felt that Morgan was growing up too fast. She was extremely independent and liked to do everything herself from a young age so Tony was happy that Peter was different. 

“Morning, Bug. You want pancakes or waffles?” Tony asked her as she went right over to Peter. 

“Pancakes please.” Morgan told Tony and grabbed onto Peter’s cheeks, causing him to let out a loud whine. “You’re so cute.” 

Tony looked over and saw Morgan squeezing Peter’s face way too hard. “Morgan, be gentle. He’s not one of your dolls.” 

Morgan let go and handed Peter back his sippy cup. “He looks like one right now because he’s so cute.” 

Tony chuckled. “Yeah. Where’s your mom?” 

“Um, she’s in the shower I think. Can we go for a walk in the forest after breakfast?” Morgan asked, excitedly. 

“Yeah! I wan’ go for a walk, daddy!” Peter said excitedly too. 

Tony couldn’t say no to those faces. “Yeah, if you guys want to. After we eat and I get Peter changed then we can go.” 

“Okay. I’ll help you too.” Morgan said as she ran her hands through Peter’s hair repeatedly. Tony was glad to see that he wasn’t the only Stark who was obsessed with those curls. 

After Pepper came downstairs, they all ate breakfast together and then Tony took Peter upstairs to get him changed. He knew that Peter was old enough to walk on his own but he liked to carry his kid that he mourned for ten years and Peter seemed to like to be carried too so win-win. 

“Can you get the sunscreen, Morgan? I almost forgot about that.” Tony placed Peter on the bed and pulled his pyjama pants off but then he was crawling away. 

“Dad? Can you help me grab it?” Morgan asked. Tony looked over to see Morgan stepping on the dresser to reach the sunscreen that was on the shelf. 

Tony walked over to her and grabbed her arm so she didn’t fall, he then grabbed the sunscreen and bug spray and handed it to Morgan. 

“I have a hat for Peter to wear. It’s pink but it’s the only one we have.” Pepper walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed. 

Tony walked back over to the bed. “It’s fine. Pink used to be a boy's colour anyways.” 

Peter was trying to do a somersault on the bed but he was failing miserably at it. Tony reached over and patted his butt that he couldn’t resist. “Come over here so we can go.” 

Peter fell onto his butt and looked at Tony with a grin. “No. I wan’ to play with you and Morgan.” 

Tony smiled. “We will play. We’re gonna go for a walk.” 

Peter shook his head, still grinning. Tony knew that Peter was in a playful mood now but that meant it would be even harder for them to get ready and leave the house. 

Tony reached forward and grabbed Peter’s legs, pulling him towards the edge of the bed. Tony held his chest with one hand and used the other hand to pull the pull-up straps off the sides then pulled the pull-up from Peter and tossed it to the side. 

Pepper handed him a wipe but Tony struggled to wipe Peter since he was giggling and squirming too much. He managed to wipe him clean but had to let him go to grab his outfit out for the day. 

Peter took that opportunity to crawl away back on the bed so Tony let him go while he dug in the laundry hamper for some clothes. 

“Should I put him in shorts?” Tony asked Pepper since she always knew what to wear and still sometimes picked out Tony’s clothes for occasions like this. 

“Yeah, it’s nice out.” Pepper grabbed the sunscreen bottle from Morgan because she was putting way too much on herself. 

Tony walked over to the other side of the bed and quickly grabbed Peter so he didn’t crawl away again. “I got you.” 

Peter giggled and tried to get out of Tony’s arms. “No daddy! I’m gonna run!” 

“Nope. Not on my watch.” Tony carried Peter over to the other side of the bed and sat down, sitting Peter in his lap so he could easily get Peter’s underwear and pants on. 

He didn’t remember it ever being this hard with Morgan at this age but then again, Peter has a whole other personality and he’s a boy that is very reckless and playful. 

Tony still can’t get over the fact that he has a son. He always thought of Peter as his son while he was… gone, but now it’s really true. It’s one thing to think of Peter as his son while he’s gone but it’s another thing to actually have that kid to hold and raise. 

Pepper didn’t bother to help him since she was helping Morgan put the sunscreen on her back and face but she kept looking over at Tony and sighing at the dramatics of their kids. 

Tony pulled Peter’s pyjama shirt off of him and wrestled him into a T-shirt by holding him with one arm and using his other arm to put the shirt on. It was extremely hard but something told him that he had to get used to it. 

After putting Peter’s socks and shoes on and loading him up with sunscreen and bug spray, they were ready for their hike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t hate me!! 
> 
> I wrote this chapter about a month ago I think I can’t remember and I just remember I made myself cry because I felt so bad for tony and I didn’t want peter to leave him ahhhh


	12. Looking at the stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been so long since I uodated and I feel so bad ahhhh but I’m also really sad today because if there was no virus, I would be starting my job at a summer camp today:( and I miss it sooooooooo much omg:( I’m sadddddd
> 
> EDIT: 
> 
> I’m taking a little break from posting this fic because I got a kitten!!! So I’m not going to be writing as much or at all for a little while. Idkk how long but hopefully not toooo long

The family of four left their house and started walking on the trail in the forest with Morgan leading the way. 

Peter was holding Tony’s hand so he could jump off of a rock or a log and Tony could lift him up by his arm to make him fly high. 

“Daddy, make me go higher.” Peter demanded and grabbed onto Tony’s hand tighter. 

“Okay. Hold on tight.” Tony waited for Peter to climb up onto the log and then when Peter jumped off, he lifted his arm up so Peter would go higher. It was cute to hear Peter’s excited screaming which made his heart melt. 

“Daddy. I wanna make you do it too.” Peter told Tony and tried to lead him over to the log that he just jumped off of but Tony shook his head and laughed. 

“I’m too big, bud. You can’t lift me up.” Tony let go of Peter’s hand and laughed at the face he was making. 

“Oh. But I’m strong, daddy. I can lift you up all the way to the clouds and go up.” Peter lifted his arms up in the air and stood on his tippy toes to reach the clouds that were covered by the trees. 

“I bet you can, baby. But daddy wants to stay on the ground with you.” Tony walked forward to lift Peter up and toss him into the air before settling him on his hip and catching up to the girls. 

“Daddy, I wan’ climb the tree.” Peter pointed up at one of the trees and squirmed in Tony’s arms. 

“No, Petey. I don’t want you to get hurt. How about we go run and catch up to the girls?” Tony suggested and hoped that it convinced Peter to stop talking about reaching for the trees and the sky. He wanted his kid on the ground. 

“I race you!” Peter said excitedly and took off running. Tony ran a bit behind him. He knew he was being overprotective but he didn’t want Peter to trip and fall on the roots that were sticking out of the ground. He didn’t say anything but he was scared about it. 

Peter slammed into the back of Pepper’s legs and started jumping up and down. “I win! I win! I beat daddy!” 

Tony caught up to his kid and held his hand out for a high five. “Nice job, Pete. You’re so fast.” 

Peter grinned. “Yeah! I the fastest ever.” 

Morgan walked a bit up ahead and stood on top of a rock to point at something. “I see a stream! Can we go swim in it? Please?” Morgan jumped off the rock and ran over to her family. 

Peter reached for Morgan’s hand and tried to walk towards where Morgan was pointing to but she was looking at Tony and Pepper with puppy dog eyes. She was good but not as good as Peter. 

“Please. We’ll be careful and now I have someone to play with in the stream.” Morgan pleaded and Tony couldn’t say no to that. They spent the last nine years, almost ten, watching Morgan play by herself and playing with her own imagination but now she had a sibling. 

“That’ll be fun but you have to watch your brother.” Pepper told her and then reached for Tony’s hand so they could watch their two kids run down the hill and over to the stream. 

They had gone on millions of walks but they had never come across this stream before so Tony has no idea how deep or powerful the current was. 

“Morg, don’t go too deep.” Tony warned her then helped Peter take off his shoes and his shorts so he was in his underwear and his top. He just hoped that Peter didn’t try to sit down otherwise he would have a wet butt for the rest of the hike. 

“I won’t! Hold my hand, Peter.” Morgan held out her hand for Peter but Peter shook his head and stepped onto the water. 

“No!” Peter started laughing at the cold water splashing on his legs and walked towards the tiny waterfall that was about a foot high. “Morgan, you gonna jump?” 

“Not at this stream. It’s too deep and I don’t have my bathing suit.” Morgan told Peter and jumped onto a big rock. 

“Help.” Peter made grabby hands for Morgan to help him up but Morgan shook her head. “Help.” 

“No. You’re too little. This is my rock.” The nine year old said and went to sit down on the rock so she could put her feet into the water. 

Peter didn’t like to be told no so he turned around and started crying while reaching out for Tony. “Daddy! Mor-Morgan say no!” 

Tony had been watching the whole thing from the grass with Pepper but he didn’t want to bud in. “Oh baby. It’s okay. Morgan’s right because the rock is too big for you.” 

Peter climbed onto Tony’s legs and shook his head. “No. I wan’ go on it.” 

Tony smiled over at Pepper because they had a little drama queen on their hands. “How about I come in with you and help you onto the rock?” 

Peter wiped the tears that had fallen down his face and nodded his head. “Yeah. I wan’ go there with Morgan.” 

Tony stood up and lifted Peter to his feet but Peter was lifting his arms up, demanding to be held. “Hold my hand, Pete, so you can walk in the water with me.” 

“Okay daddy.” Peter took Tony’s hand in his and started laughing when the water splashed on his legs. He looked up Tony with a grin and the sight made Tony’s heart swell since no matter how many days passed or how much he told himself that this was real, he still couldn’t get over the fact that Peter was really here with him and was his kid now. 

“Morgan, daddy says I can come up too.” Peter told her and let go of Tony’s hand to raise his arms up for him with desperate sounds. “Up daddy.” 

“Up you get.” Tony lifted his five year old onto the rock but held onto his hand so he could sit next to Morgan. “Hold onto your brother, Morg, so I can take a picture of you two.” 

Morgan happily grabbed onto Peter with her arms wrapped tightly around him and Peter grinned up at Tony with his cute little baby teeth peeking through. Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and snatched a bunch of pictures of his two babies and he knew that he had to get the pictures printed straight away so he could frame them up in the house. 

Peter wiggled out of Morgan’s hold and held his arms out for Tony again. “I wan’ off rock.” 

“Okay, come here, Pete.” The billionaire grabbed Peter with one arm since he was still holding his phone in his other hand. “Do you want me to put you down in the water?” 

“No! Noooo!” Peter screamed right in Tony’s ear and Tony felt the ringing start. Peter definitely had a great set of lungs on him. 

“Look at me boys.” Pepper called out to them and held the camera up to take some pictures of them. “Peter, are you making a silly face?” 

Tony looked over at Peter who was sticking his tongue out of his mouth. Peter smiled shyly. “I makin’ a silly face.” 

Tony attacked his stomach with a bunch of tickles because he loved the sound of Peter’s laughter. Especially his five year old laugh, it was so innocent and cute. 

“Morg, are you ready to go, you little water monkey?” Tony asked his oldest child. He knew she would have gotten herself soaked since Morgan just didn’t care about getting wet, even in her clothes. 

In hindsight, they should have worn bathing suits. 

“Yeah! Let me just ring out my pants a bit.” Morgan started squeezing the water out of her pants and both adults shook their heads at their daughter. She was definitely something else. 

“Me too!” Peter cheered and clapped his hands but Tony didn’t know what he was referring to since Tony had taken off his pants. 

“I have to put your pants back on, monkey. Where are they?” Tony set Peter on the ground and grabbed the pants before Peter saw them. 

Peter spun around to look for them. “I don’ know. Where they gone to?” 

“I found them.” Tony held out the pants for Peter and smiled when Peter spotted them. “Put your foot in.” 

Peter held onto Tony’s arm for support while Tony helped him back into his pants and then into his shoes. “I beat you, Morgan.” 

Morgan slipped her own shoes on and glared at Peter. “I wasn’t racing you.” 

Peter shrugged. “I still beated you.” 

Morgan shrugged her own shoulders and continued walking down the path. Peter left Tony’s side to catch up to her but he tripped over a tree root and fell face first into the dirt. 

Tony raced over to him but before he even got to Peter, Peter lifted his head up and started crying loudly. “Oh no. You’re okay, Petey. Let me see.” 

“Daddy!” Peter cried out and lifted his arms up for Tony so Tony lifted him up and set Peter on his feet. Tony brushed the dirt off his face so he could see if Peter was hurt but there was no blood on his face which relieved him. 

“Is he okay?” Pepper asked and kneeled down next to Tony to check over Peter’s hands but thankfully didn’t find anything but dirt so she wiped it off. 

“Yeah, he’s okay. That just scared you, right Pete?” Tony asked while he wiped all the dirt and tears off his kids face. 

Peter whimpered and nodded his head. “Yeah. I-I wan’ hug.” 

Tony cooed and lifted Peter up with him while he stood up. “Aw, my baby. You’re okay. You were running so fast.” 

Peter pulled away from Tony and nodded his head while he rubbed at one of his eyes with his fist. “Yeah. I fast.” 

“You are very fast.” Tony added. He kissed Peter’s temple and placed Peter back down on his feet. 

“Dad, did Peter fall?” Morgan ran back over and asked. She patted the top of Peter’s head and examined his face. 

“Yeah, he just tripped but he’s okay.” Tony reassured her while also reassuring himself that Peter was in fact okay and he was still here with him. 

The family decided to head back to their house since it was almost time for lunch and then a nap. 

Peter and Morgan walked ahead of Tony and Pepper. Tony loved to watch Morgan try and help Peter onto a log and attempt to catch the five year old in her arms when Peter would jump off. 

They were almost home when Peter ran over to Tony and lifted his arms up for him. “Carry me.” 

Tony didn’t hesitate to lift his son up and set him on his hip. “Are you tired, baby? Do you want your nap now?” 

Peter nodded his head and as if by Tony saying that made Peter aware of his tiredness so he let out a yawn and laid his head on Tony’s shoulder. 

“I’m gonna go bring Peter up for his nap and then we’ll have lunch after.” Tony told the girls after they got home and into the house. 

“Okay dad!” Morgan said as she washed her hands at the kitchen sink and Pepper got started on lunch. 

Tony carried his half asleep five year old upstairs and into his and Pepper’s bedroom because he still had to finish putting Peter’s bedroom together. 

“Daddy, my baba.” Peter looked around the room for his nap time bottle but that was just a one time thing that Tony gave to Peter because he was distraught and needed to calm down. 

Now, Peter thought he was getting his bottle every time he went down for a nap. 

“Do you want your sippy cup?” Tony asked him as he grabbed a pull-up from the box and walked over to the bed to see Peter sitting up and shaking his head with a pout. “You don’t need a bottle, Petey.” 

Peter nodded his head. “I do.” 

“No, only babies need bottles and you’re not a baby.” Tony told him but Peter’s eyes started to water. 

It was so hard for Tony because he spent ten long years mourning his son and now he had Peter back and he was making his kid cry and he hated it. He wanted to tell Peter no and let him cry it out but he just couldn’t. 

Ten years was way too long to mourn the loss of his child and now he had Peter back so he wanted to give in to all his needs. At least for a little bit. 

“Baba Daddy.” Peter said, more desperately this time so Tony agreed. 

“Okay. We’ll go get your bottle after you get changed.” Tony told Peter who smiled proudly that he won that argument. Tony knew if he didn’t stop soon and put his foot down then it would be harder in the long run but he was willing to make that sacrifice because he could. 

Tony pulled Peter’s pants and underwear off and grabbed the pull-up to help him into it but Peter shook his head. “No, shirt off too, daddy.” 

“Alright. Lift your arms up.” Peter did as instructed so Tony pulled his shirt off and tossed it in the laundry hamper with the rest of Peter’s clothes. 

Tony helped Peter into his pull-up and picked him up after to go grab his bottle that he knew wasn’t necessary but to Peter it was. 

“Oh, I thought you were going for a nap, Pete?” Pepper asked him once she saw the two boys walk back down the stairs but she saw that Peter was wearing his pull-up so she knew that he was going for his nap soon. 

“Baba.” Was all Peter said as Tony shifted him onto his other hip and opened the fridge to grab the milk. 

“Peter wants his bottle but I told him he didn’t need it.” Tony told Pepper even as she was grabbing a bottle for Peter. 

She looked at Peter sadly and gently squeezed his leg. “That’s okay. He can have it if he wants. I’m sure he’ll grow out of it soon and if he doesn’t, we’ll worry about it then.” 

Tony felt a bit better that Pepper was on board with it. Surprisingly, they had the same opinions on parenting so they worked together pretty well when it came to that aspect, with just a few disagreements along the way. 

Peter watched Pepper pour his milk with wide eyes and started making grabby hands for it before the lid was even screwed on.

“Look at him, Pep.” Tony laughed because Peter definitely loved his bottle. He wondered if May and Ben had given it to him when he was this age before or if it was something new that Tony and possibly Pepper had introduced to him. 

Pepper looked over at Peter and smiled at him then handed him his bottle. Peter took it and started sucking from it immediately with his eyes drooping. 

Tony patted his butt and cooed. “We’ll see you later, Pep.” Tony gave her a quick kiss and then turned to walk upstairs. 

He moved the blankets back and laid Peter on the bed then handed him his stuffed bear and laid down next to Peter. 

Peter took the bottle out of his mouth to turn his head. “Daddy you stayin’?” 

Tony brushed the curls from Peter’s face and nodded. “I’m staying right here with you.” 

Content with that answer, Peter put his bottle back in his mouth and stared at Tony until his eyes drifted shut. Tony carefully grabbed the bottle and placed it next to Peter’s pillow so it wasn’t still in his mouth. 

Tony rubbed Peter’s belly gently and smiled when Peter smiled a bit in his sleep. He continued to stare at Peter, still trying to believe that this was in fact real and that this was his life now. 

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there for. It was long enough for Peter to move positions three times and now he was lying on his back with his legs stretched out in front of him. 

Tony pressed a gentle kiss to Peter’s forehead then left his bedroom and quietly shut the door. He knew he was being paranoid but he was so scared of leaving Peter alone when he slept or at all in case Peter disappeared again. 

It was obvious to Tony that he was still suffering from some form of PTSD even after he got his kid back. He wasn’t sure if it would go away with time but right now he needed to make himself feel better by having some sort of evidence that Peter is still okay and alive when he’s put down for a nap and Tony isn’t there. 

He went downstairs and started digging in the boxes that they ordered to the house a few days ago for Peter and didn’t get the chance to put them away yet.

“What are you doing?” Pepper asked him and put her book down. 

“Did we order a baby monitor when we got a bunch of stuff for Peter?” Tony asked her and paused in his searching to turn around and look at her. 

“No. We can go to the store and get one after Peter wakes up.” Pepper told him then stood up to walk over to him. “We should take this opportunity now that Peter is sleeping and Morgan is doing some math to bring these boxes into his bedroom and finish putting it together.” 

Tony wanted to get them into a routine and to get the house set. He wanted it to look like a five year old was living there so many then that would stop his constant fears of Peter leaving him. 

“Yeah, I also want to buy some picture frames and get rid of all teen Peter pictures.” Tony grabbed two boxes and stood up with Pepper following him up to Peter’s bedroom. 

“I’ll empty this box and walk around the house to take all his pictures down so we can replace it. I know we have a lot of pictures of him already.” She said and kissed Tony then left. 

He just sat on Peter’s bed and looked around the room. He still had so much to do. He had to build some more furniture as well as move all the boxes and plastic out. Then he had to bring in some toys and put a carpet down for him. 

He still didn’t want Peter sleeping in his room by himself just yet. If it was up to him, he would keep Peter in his arms for the rest of his life but he knew he had to let Peter go so he could live a life. 

It was still hard. 

Pepper walked back into the bedroom about fifteen minutes later and sat on the floor. “All the pictures are gone and put in the basement. There was a lot more than I thought but I kept some baby ones of him up that you got from May’s apartment after… yeah.” 

Tony nodded. He loved those pictures and had one of the pictures turned into a painting that was hung in their bedroom so he could look at it everyday. That would be staying up too but now when he lived at it, it brought him happiness instead of guilt and grief. 

“I want to get some more safety precautions for the house. A baby gate for the top of the basement stairs and maybe one for the top of these stairs too.” Tony thought about some other things that might be needed. “Child proof locks on some cabinets and doorknobs to some rooms. Definitely for the front and back door.” 

“Alright. I’ll make a list and we’ll go after he wakes up. Are you going to work on his bedroom right now?” Pepper stood up and asked him. 

Tony thought about it. It was Peter’s bedroom so he wanted Peter and Morgan to help him. He got off the bed and pulled Pepper against his side. “No. I’ll wait. I’m gonna go check on little miss.” 

Tony found Morgan sitting in her homework room. The room had zero distractions and had motivational quotes all around the room to help her stay focused. 

Tony pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. “How’s the homework coming along?” 

Morgan put her pencil down. “It’s not homework, dad. You and mom just want me to do stupid workbooks for no reason.” 

“It’s not stupid and it’s not for no reason.” Tony picked the pencil back up and handed it to her. “While you’re out of school because of everything going on, mom and I don’t want you to fall behind and we want you to keep your brain fresh with a little bit of homework everyday.” 

Morgan sighed. “You mean with everyone who died coming back? Like Peter?” 

Tony didn’t like how Morgan worded that but she was right. “Yeah.” 

“So… did everyone come back as a five year old like Peter did?” Morgan asked, curiously. 

“No. Not everyone. Peter was fifteen years old before the snap, then ten years later, he came back as a five year old.” Tony explained to her once again. “So someone who disappeared when they were twenty five would come back-” 

“As a fifteen year old.” Morgan finished his sentence for him. 

“That’s right.” 

“I wonder what everyone else is like all over the world. If like they are happy that some of them got their kids and parents back and stuff.” Morgan admitted and looked up at her father for his answer. 

“Well, I don’t know exactly what’s going on all over the world but I do know that a lot of families are so happy to have their kids back or their parents, friends, but I also know that because those people are back, a lot more stress is added until things can get figured out.” Tony explained to his nine year old. 

“It’s kinda like the whole world is on pause right now. You know how your school is closed for a month? Well a lot of schools around the world are also closed to get things sorted out in the meantime. As well as some jobs and other places.” Tony added and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. 

Tony hadn’t been watching much of the news because he doesn’t have time to with having a nine year old and now a five year old but he saw a few things here and there. 

“Will Peter join my school after it opens again?” Morgan asked excitedly. 

Tony still had no idea what the plan was for Peter’s schooling. Her five so he would be in kindergarten but Tony isn’t sure Peter or him is ready for that yet. 

“I don’t know yet, Morg. He might be but we’ll have to see.” Tony told her and then pointed to her next question. “Let’s finish the rest of your math questions together.” 

Morgan groaned. “Why doesn’t Peter have to do any of this?” 

“Because he’s too young, Morgan.” Tony told her. He knew teen Peter was an incredibly smart kid so he amused that five years old Peter would be smart as well but Peter was still only five years old. 

Morgan groaned one more time. “Can I go see him? I haven’t seen him in like… ten hours. I’ll just go look at him then come back down and finish my questions.” 

Tony sighed but he couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on his face. “Alright. We’ll go look at him and then come back down here together.” 

“Or I can take it upstairs with me and work while we watch Peter?” Morgan asked with her mischievous little grin that Tony knew she learned from him. 

“Grab it. Let’s go.” Tony smiled and followed Morgan up the stairs. “Shh, we have to be quiet though.” 

Tony quietly opened the door and looked at Peter who was still passed out. He had his thumb in his mouth and was sleeping on his side. He looked extremely comfortable so Tony hoped they didn’t wake him up. 

Morgan got comfortable on the bed with her workbook and pencil while Tony sat down next to Peter and looked at his peaceful form. 

“Dad? Is ten times seven seventy?” Morgan whispered and turned to look at him. 

“Yep. Good job.” Tony whispered back. 

It passed the two hour work of Peter’s nap but he still wasn’t waking up. Tony planned on giving him another fifteen minutes and if he wasn’t awake yet, then he would wake him up so they could go shopping. 

“I’m stuck on the last question?” Morgan said, a little louder since Tony told her she didn’t have to whisper anymore after he turned the lamp on. 

“What does the question say?” Tony asked but Peter started to rub his eyes and start to wake up. 

Peter sat up in bed and pulled his thumb from his mouth. His eyes landed on Tony and he smiled. “Daddy, what’s that?” 

Peter crawled onto Tony’s lap and grabbed his teddy bear with him. “That’s Morgan’s workbook. Did you have nice dreams?” 

Peter nodded his head and shifted on Tony’s lap a bit. “Yeah. I dream there was a chocolate monkey and I eat him.” 

“Woah. That’s so cool. Was he yummy?” Tony asked and Peter nodded his head. 

“Was the monkey big or small?” Morgan asked more seriously so Peter crawled off of Tony’s lap and crawled over on the bed to try and sit on her lap. “Ew Peter. Your pull-ups all squishy. I’ll get you a new one.” 

“It’s okay, Morg. He’s gonna put underwear on after because we’re going shopping.” Tony told her as he got off the bed to go grab some clean clothes for Peter. 

Both kids watched Tony leave the bedroom and then Peter got off of Morgan and sat down across from her. “I wan’ see.” 

“It’s just my homework.” Morgan told him and continued to write down the next answer. 

Peter grabbed the pencil from her. “Mine.” 

“It’s not yours, Peter. Give it back.” Morgan tried to grab the pencil grab from Peter but he moved away and shook his head. “I’m gonna smack you.” 

“No.” Peter pouted and then started scribbling all over Morgan’s workbook. 

“No! Stop! Peter! Daddy!” Morgan screamed as she watched Peter ruin her math page and all that hard work she put into it. 

Tony ran back into the room because he thought someone was hurt but he just found Peter drawing all over Morgan’s math workbook with her pencil while Morgan screamed. 

Tony walked around to the other side of the bed and picked Peter up then grabbed the pencil from his hands. “That was not very nice, Peter. That was Morgan’s math work.” 

The smile fell from Peter’s face and he started crying. Tony placed him on the floor and watched Peter throw himself onto the floor to start crying and kicked the bed frame. 

Tony sat down on the bed and carefully grabbed the ruined workbook page. “Oh Morgan. It’s okay.” 

There were frustrated tears in Morgan’s eyes but To y didn’t blame her. As much as he saw that she loved Peter and loved having a younger sibling, she wasn’t used to actually having a younger sibling and that it came with stuff like this. 

“He ruined it! I worked so hard!” 

Tony looked at the page and then tried to make Morgan feel better. “It’s okay, Morgan. Look, I can still see all your answers and I can see that you got everything right and I’m so proud of you. You learned so much so you don’t even need this page anymore.” 

Morgan grabbed the page to run her hand over it and then she sniffled. “Yeah. I guess so.” 

Tony pressed a kiss to her head and stood up. “I’m always right, right?” 

Morgan smiled weakly and nodded. “I guess so. Moms right more times though.” 

Tony fake gasped. “Alright. You little traitor, you’re supposed to be on my side.” 

Morgan grinned at him. 

“Go get ready to leave while I talk to Peter about what he did.” Tony told Morgan and picked the still crying Peter up and set him on his hip. 

Tony walked into the bathroom and set Peter on the counter top. “Peter. Let’s wipe all your tears away so we can stop crying.” 

Tony grabbed a face cloth and soaked it with warm water then wiped Peter’s face until he stopped crying and started sadly hiccuping. 

“What you did to Morgan’s workbook wasn’t very nice.” Tony said to him and Peter looked up at him with sad eyes. “She told you to stop so you have to stop.” 

Peter nodded his head and reached for Tony. “Sorry daddy.” 

“You have to say sorry to Morgan.” Tony said but he was glad Peter was such a good kid. 

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah.” 

“Okay. After you get dressed you can say you’re sorry.” Tony lifted Peter off the bathroom counter and set him on his feet so he could take off his wet pull-up and dispose of it. 

He quickly wiped Peter clean while he tried to hold him still because Peter was trying to run back into the bedroom. 

“I wan’ to pick my pants, daddy.” Peter told him and climbed up onto the bed. 

“Okay, but you have to climb back down since all your clothes are down here.” Tony kneeled on the floor then looked up at saw Peter about to jump off the bed so he quickly grabbed him and set him on the floor. “You little monkey.” 

“Chocolate monkey.” Peter added and rubbed his belly. 

“Yeah, from your dream.” Tony grabbed a pair of underwear and helped Peter get it on then helped him with his top but he knew Peter would take hours to decide his pants so Tony had him pick between two options. 

“Um… I wan’ the red ones! Daddy put on red pants with me!” Peter told him while Tony helped him into his pants. 

Tony thought that that was adorable. “Alright, baby. Let me go change quickly in the bathroom so stay right here.” Tony grabbed the track pants and walked into the bathroom. 

Peter walked over to the nightstand table and opened it to see what was inside. He found a bottle of cream and tried to open it up but he couldn’t so he continued to dig in the drawer. 

Tony walked out of the bathroom with matching red track pants but he could not leave Peter unattended. Peter was digging in the nightstand table and was holding a bottle of lube. 

Tony quickly snatched it from Peter and cringed. Oh no. 

“Daddy I want the cream on my toes.” Peter tried to reach for it again but Tony set it on the high dresser and lifted Peter up. 

“It’s not for you, Peter. No touching.” Tony told him and wiped his hands down while he walked down the stairs then set Peter on his feet and kneeled down to his level to remind him what he had to do. “Go say that you are sorry to Morgan for drawing on her math page.” 

Peter ran over to Morgan and looked up at her. “Morgan. I sorry. I didn’t mean to.” 

Morgan hugged Peter and patted his curls. “I forgive you but don’t do it again.” 

Peter nodded his head and smiled. “Yeah. Don’ do it again.” 

Tony looked at Pepper. “Did Morg tell you what Pete did?” 

“Yeah.” Pepper swung her purse over her shoulder. “We should get him some colouring books. He barely has any toys of his own.” 

Tony couldn’t agree more. They had to make this Peter’s house too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t remember if I mentioned a baby monitor before so if I did oops but it’s going in either way. It’s sooooo hard to keep up with the little things like that in my fics since I’m currently writing 5 fics right now and I’m not complaining because I love it so much but it is hard when it comes to little details so ooops 
> 
> This is the baby monitor: 
> 
> https://images.ctfassets.net/50gzycvace50/502d9724ea1b9d686245641e1c6e19c78ae0c79d94344c393233a725a4a26331/3b91748509221f7e3914a4ca120bf3e9/502d9724ea1b9d686245641e1c6e19c78ae0c79d94344c393233a725a4a26331.png?fl=progressive&fm=jpg&bg=rgb:f9f9f9


	13. If I only had one more life, I’d want to live it with you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys!!! Over a mouth later ahhhhhhh!! If you want some updates, please read the end notes:)) I’ll see you down there and enjoyyyyy!!!

“Can we get ice cream from McDonald’s on the way there?” Morgan asked as they headed to the car. 

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.” Pepper unlocked the car and walked around the other side with Morgan. 

Tony was carrying Peter since he refused to put his shoes on and Peter decided to rub his grubby hands all over Tony’s face on the walls from the house to the car. 

Tony opened the back door and tried to pry Peter off of him to buckle him into his car seat but Peter stuck onto him. Pepper turned around in her seat and looked at Tony. “Did you bring his shoes?” 

Tony held the shoes up and then tossed them into the already messy car. “Yep. Right here.” 

“I wan’ drive with you, daddy.” Peter hugged his arms around Tony’s neck, choking him in the process. 

“You can’t drive with me, Pete. Let go.” Tony tried again but Peter was holding on very tightly. It made Tony second guess if Peter’s spider powers had actually disappeared or not. 

Morgan threw her head back and groaned. “Peter, let go so we can get ice cream. Dad’s gonna bring us to McDonald’s.” 

That got Peter to let go and pull away from Tony. “Ice cream?” 

Tony nodded. “Yep. But you have to let go of daddy and put your shoes on.” 

“Then ice cream?” Peter asked just to clarify that he will be getting ice cream if he puts shoes on. 

Tony nodded again and smiled when Peter let go of him so he sat him into his car seat and buckled him up then put his shoes on while Peter did up the velcro. 

The whole drive to the ice cream shop was spent with Peter and Morgan singing the ice cream song and as loud and as repetitive it was, Tony loved hearing it so much because it reminded him that Peter was now a part of their little family. 

“Make sure to get lots of napkins.” Pepper told Tony and pointed a finger back at Peter. “Since we have a five year old now.” 

Tony felt his heart swell. “I love the sound of that.” 

“This is our life now. Ice cream and trips to the store to buy baby gates.” Pepper spoke above the yelling going on in the backseat. 

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Tony admitted and it was the truth. It was the only thing he wanted in life and it took more than ten years to get. Well worth the wait. 

Once they all got their ice creams, they ate it in the car on their way to the store. Tony knew Peter was going to have his face covered in the chocolate ice cream so when he parked the car, he was almost scared to open the back door to see what monster was going to be awaiting him. 

Peter had somehow managed to get ice cream in his hair and on his forehead. “Did you manage to get any ice cream in your mouth, Peter?” Tony asked, jokingly and Peter grinned. 

“No so I need more!” 

Little sneaky child. “I don’t think so. Pep, do we have any baby wipes?” 

Pepper opened up Morgan’s car door and started digging around but came up with nothing. “No. We’re gonna have to start keeping that in the car again. I’ll just grab some napkins and wet them.” 

Tony waited for Pepper to do that and moved aside so Morgan could climb up on the seat and laugh at Peter. “He was so funny when he was eating it. He was like,” Morgan began imitating the way Peter was licking the ice cream and then all three of them started laughing. 

“Look at you, you little monster.” Pepper cooed and wiped Peter’s face and his hands so he wasn’t all sticky anymore. 

“Yeah and daddy’s gin’ get me more!” Peter lied and looked up at Tony with innocent eyes. 

“Out you get.” Tony unbuckled Peter from the car seat and held him in his arms until they were in the store so that he didn’t have to chase after him. Before he set Peter on his feet, he looked over at him and turned Peter’s head to look at him. “You’re going to listen to Pepper and me, right?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah and then I get ice cream ‘gin!” 

“It’s again, Peter.” Tony corrected him but he knew Peter was doing it on purpose since he’s heard Peter say the right word before. 

Peter nodded. “Yeah. Wan’ down, daddy.” 

Tony placed Peter on the floor and grabbed a shopping cart. Peter ran over to Pepper and reached for her hand to hold. Tony loved that Peter got along with Pepper and that Pepper loved Peter equally as much. 

He didn’t get much time to think about it since everything happened so quickly but later, once Tony had the time to think about it, in the beginning he feared that Peter wouldn’t take a liking to Pepper or Pepper would find it hard to love and want Peter but after just a few hours of watching them together, Tony knew that he was wrong for thinking that. 

Peter held onto Pepper’s hand and tried to lead her towards the aisle that had the gummies and cookies. “You want to go down here?” Pepper asked him. 

Tony and Morgan were following close behind but a few feet away so they couldn’t hear their conversation. Pepper liked that since she wanted to have more one on one time with Peter. 

“Yeah, and get the um, the blue one.” Peter let go of Pepper’s hand and started running down the aisle until he saw the blue box of Scooby-Doo gummies. 

“Up. I wan’ reach ‘dem.” Peter lifted his arms up for Pepper to lift him up so she lifted Peter into her arms but to her surprise, Peter said something that she only dreamed of Peter saying to her. 

“Thank you, mommy.” Peter said like it wasn’t a big deal at all but Pepper was left speechless for a few seconds. 

“Oh. Y-you’re welcome, Peter.” Pepper felt the happy tears burn her eyes. She pressed a kiss to Peter’s face and placed him back on the ground. She felt frozen. Now she knows how Tony feels every time Peter calls him daddy. 

She turned around and saw Peter run over and drop the gummies into the cart. “Here daddy.” 

“Thanks Pete.” Tony smiled at him but then he looked up at Pepper and saw that she had tears in her eyes and a few falling down her cheeks. His smile dropped and he looked at her with so much concern. “What happened?” 

She wiped her cheeks and smiled harder. “Peter just called me mommy.” 

A smile broke out across Tony’s face. “What? Are you serious? Oh my god, Pep.” 

Pepper nodded her head and accepted the hug and kiss she received from her husband. “Y-yeah. I’m crying. I’m just so happy. I never expected him to but I just… god. This feels good.” 

Tony knew that feeling and it was definitely one of his most favourite feelings in the world. “Yeah it does. I have to hear him say this.” 

Tony left the cart and rushed over to Peter and Morgan. He didn’t even think about the fact that Peter was stacking a bunch of boxes of bear paws on the ground. So kneeled down and asked Peter, “Where’s mommy?” 

Peter looked behind him and pointed at Pepper. “‘Dare.” 

“Yeah,” That didn’t work as Tony expected it to. He meant to get Peter to say mommy but it had to come out naturally he guessed. “okay,” Tony looked back up at Pepper who brought the cart over. “I’ll just wait for it.” 

Pepper nodded with the smile permanently on her face. Tony stood up and joined her side. “I need to hear him say this. I’m so happy.” 

Tony followed Peter and Morgan into the next aisle and watched them. He wanted to hear Peter say it but he knew he couldn’t force him to or it wouldn’t be as meaningful. 

“Daddy?” Peter asked, walking over to Tony to tap him on the leg to get his attention even though Tony had already acknowledged him. “Daddy?” 

“Yeah, Pete? I’m listening.” Tony tossed him two boxes of goldfish since that was very popular in their household. 

Peter tugged on his hand. “I wan’ the blue one but Morgan’s not grabbin’ it but I tell her to.” 

“What blue one?” Tony asked him while he continued to toss more snacks into the shopping cart. He turned to look at Pepper since he remembered another thing they needed to get. “We need to buy more wipes and pull-ups, Pep.” 

“Daddy?!” Peter yelled at him and fell to the floor in front of his feet since Tony wasn’t giving him all of his attention. 

“Peter, what is it?” Tony kneeled down so he was closer to Peter’s level and lifted him up so he wasn’t rolling on the disgusting store floor. “I can’t understand you when you’re screaming like that.” 

Tony stood up fully and turned around to see Pepper walking into the aisle with some more snack boxes. Tony used to freak out when Morgan used to throw temper tantrums in stores but now he knows that it’s going to happen no matter what so just roll with it. 

He had a big feeling that Peter was going to be throwing lots of temper tantrums in stores. 

“I wan’ the blue one!” Peter cried and made grabby hands for a blue box of cookies on the shelf. 

Tony simply reached forward and handed the box to Peter. He smirked when Peter immediately stopped crying and rubbed at his tears on his face. “Thank you, daddy.” 

“Aw, you’re welcome, baby. Put it in the cart.” Tony spun Peter around after he threw the box in. Peter started giggling and it made everything worth it. “I love you so much, Peter. So so much.” 

Peter shook his head. “No.” 

“No. Why no?” Tony asked him with a fake pout. 

“Because daddy’s poo poo.” Peter grinned at Tony and it didn’t make any sense but it was adorable either way. 

“You’re so silly my baby. So silly.” Tony decorated Peter’s face with a bunch of kisses and set him back on the floor to catch up to Pepper and Morgan. 

The family of four headed into the baby section to get a few necessary items for their youngest. Morgan helped pick out the wipes with Peter while Pepper looked at the best baby monitors. 

“You need this one, Peter.” Morgan told him and grabbed a package of wipes, tossing it into the shopping cart. 

“No. I wan’ this one.” Peter grabbed another package of wipes and placed them in the cart but Morgan took them out and placed them back on the shelf. “No! Daddy!” 

Tony couldn’t help but smile because even though his kids were currently fighting, he was just glad that Morgan had another sibling to actually fight with. 

“Let him pick it, Morg, because it’s for him.” Tony told her but she was blocking Peter from grabbing the wipes on the shelf so Tony pushed the cart forward and grabbed Morgan by the arm. “Enough. Let him pick.” 

“Tell him to pick the other ones, dad. Those ones smell bad.” Morgan crossed her arms over her chest and stomped her foot but Tony didn’t give her any attention because that’s just what she was looking for. 

“Two, daddy?” Peter asked after he put the wipes into the shopping cart. 

“Yeah, grab another one.” Tony looked down at Morgan who was still pouting. He needed to have some one on one time with her soon since he knew that it was a bit hard to all of the sudden have another sibling steal all of the attention in the family. “Can you grab the pull-ups, Morgan?” 

The pout left Morgan’s face then she ran over to the diapers with Peter running after her. “I grab too.” 

“No, Peter. Daddy said just I can do it.” Morgan went to push Peter away but Tony stopped her. 

“Uh. Morgan. No thank you.” Tony grabbed another package off the shelf and handed it to Peter. “Here, you put this in for me.” 

Peter took the package and stood up on the bottom of the shopping cart then tossed it in with the other box. “Daddy, two?” 

“No, that’s all we need. We’re gonna have too many.” 

Peter shrugged his shoulders and went to grab another one anyways. “And ‘nother one, daddy?” 

“No, Peter. You don’t need anymore right now.” Tony said to his five year old again, feeling like he had more than just two kids right now. 

“I wan’ to put in ‘nother one.” Peter put the other package of pull-ups into the box while he was looking up at Tony. 

Tony grabbed the package and put it back on the shelf. “I said no more. You’re not listening to daddy.” 

A pout formed on Peter’s face, showing Tony that Peter was about to start throwing a fit so Tony picked him up and sat him on his hip. “No crying, Peter. I said no more pull-ups because then we’ll have too much.” Tony told his son. They already had a half box at home as well as another box and a package in the shopping cart. 

Morgan ran out of the aisle and into the next one so Tony grabbed the shopping cart and pushed it into the next aisle where Pepper was. She held out two boxes. “Which one do you think?” 

Tony put Peter back on the ground and looked at both of the baby monitors. “This one has a bigger screen and better sound so definitely this one.” Tony put the box into the shopping cart. “Should we get two? One for our room and one for downstairs so when he eventually sleeps in his own bedroom then we’ll have one around us constantly?” 

Pepper thought about it for a few seconds before agreeing and putting another box into the cart. Peter tugged on the back of Pepper’s pants and pointed to the price tag. “Three.” 

“Yeah, that’s the number three.” Pepper smiled down at the boy and bent down to pick him up. 

“And three dollars.” Peter said, causing both adults to laugh. 

“Almost, bud, but there are two zeros meaning just a little bit more than three dollars.” Tony said, patting Peter’s back and walking over to Morgan who was looking at the baby gates. 

“Look, dad. I like this one.” Morgan bent down and pointed to one of the boxes. 

Tony bent down as well and looked over the labels and the image on the front. They needed at least three of them to stop Peter from going into places he shouldn’t such as the basement and one for the top and bottom of the upstairs so it was safer for Peter. 

Pepper walked over to them with Peter on her hip and playing with her hair. 

“Threes good, right?” Tony asked her. “Can you think of any other places we need it?” 

“Two for upstairs, one for the basement…” Pepper paused to think about it. They still had a child safety lock on the front and back door from when Morgan was Peter’s age. “I think that’s all. We can always come back to buy more but you know what we do have to buy more of… all those annoying little safety locks on every single cabinet in the kitchen, bathroom and done doors.” 

Tony groaned. He completely forgot about those and how incredibly annoying they were. They had only recently taken them off, by the time Morgan turned eight but Tony had a strong feeling that curious little Peter was going to need those to stay on for a lot longer than eight. 

“I forgot about those. Oh well, we gotta get them. Let’s just throw a whole bunch in the shopping cart.” Morgan walked over to the shelf and started throwing in a bunch of the locks and doorknob locks. 

Once they got everything that they came for, they drove back home with Peter falling asleep in his car seat. Tony saw him nodding off in the rearview mirror but he didn’t know why since Peter just had a nap. 

Morgan was eating a package of gummies that they bought at the store and chewing away loudly. “Can we go on a picnic, mom?” 

“A picnic?” Pepper turned around in her seat to look at Morgan. “I think that’s a great idea. We can get some stuff from home and go eat dinner somewhere.” 

Tony took his eyes off the road for a second to glance over at Pepper. “Or we can order a pizza?” 

“Yeah! Pizza sounds a lot better.” Morgan cheered. “And brownies too please.” 

“Alright then. That’s what we’ll go and do.” Pepper declared and went to turn the Frozen disk up a bit. 

They all continued driving in silence for a few minutes until Morgan was speaking up. “Peter’s going pee in the car.” 

Tony looked in the rearview mirror to try and look at Peter’s pants, already regretting not waking Peter up right away. 

Pepper turned around in her seat and sighed sadly. “Aw, Uh oh. It’s alright.” 

Tony was already pulling over on the road and putting the car into park. “It’s fine. Um… we don’t have any extra pants in here, do we?” 

“No. Just grab a pull-up from the trunk and take off the wet ones. It’ll be fine since we’re just going right home after.” Pepper said then took her seatbelt off to shift on her seat so she was reaching in the back. “Morg, can you take off your seatbelt and grab them in the trunk please.” 

“Sure.” Morgan took off her seatbelt and jumped right up to do that. 

While Morgan was busy doing that, Tony opened up the back door and started to take off Peter’s car seat buckles. “Wake up, Petey. You already had nap time.” 

Peter shifted in his seat and rubbed at his eyes while Tony lifted him up out of his car seat and stood him up on the floor of the car. 

Peter stumbled a bit but caught his balance. “Yeah. I felled asleep in the car.” 

“You did fall asleep. Lift your leg up.” Tony ordered him as he tugged down Peter’s now wet pants and Hulk underwear but Peter wasn’t lifting his leg up so To y forced it up. 

Once Peter’s pants were off, it seemed to suddenly click what just happened. “Oh uh. I’d pee pee.” 

“It’s alright. We’ll be home soon.” Tony told him as he tried to stop Peter from jumping out of the car and grabbing a pull-up from Morgan. “Thanks, little miss.” 

“Do you need help, dad?” Morgan asked, already moving into the middle seat to grab onto Peter. 

“That’s okay.” Tony answered but then Peter was grabbing his wet clothes from the car floor and trying to pick it up. “That’s dirty now. Leave it please.” 

“But-but I need to put it in da bag, daddy.” Peter explained and went to try and pick it up again but Tony said no again. “I need to.” 

“Here you go, Peter. You can put it in this bag.” Pepper said to the five year old before a temper tantrum started so Peter turned around and walked a few steps over to grab the reusable bag that Pepper was handing him. 

“Thank you mommy.” Peter replied like it was nothing but everyone else’s jaw dropped, including Morgan’s. 

Pepper felt Cher heart flutter again, loving that Peter called her that since he was her new little baby. She actually had a son and she loved that so much. 

She looked over at Tony who was hearing it for the first time and looking like it was the second best thing he ever heard, the first best being Peter calling him daddy. 

“Peter called mommy ‘mommy’!” Morgan blurted out and pointed her finger at Peter who was standing there and looking shocked at Morgan’s accusations. 

“That’s okay, Morg. Mom is his mommy too now.” Tony said, trying not to act like it was a big deal but it was and he was so freaking happy. 

Pepper nodded her head and cleared her throat. “Yeah, Peter. Both daddy and I are you parents now.” Pepper said even though they already talked about this and knew that Peter knew. 

“Okay.” Was all Peter said but Tony knew that deep down, he knew he had a family that loved him more than anything and that he was all they ever wanted and needed. 

“Okay. Now come over to me so we can put this on and go home.” As Tony was helping Peter into his pull-up, he thought about his life growing up and now it turned out the complete opposite of what he thought would happen but he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Growing up, he didn’t think he would ever get married or have kids but he also didn’t see himself being very happy in life. At least not genuine happiness. 

Every time he thought of having kids, he always thought that he would be a boy dad. He pictured himself having a daughter but was convinced that he would be no good at it so years later when everything happened and Fourteen year old Peter came into his life and after he started to think of Peter as his kid, he was so happy that he was a boy dad and wouldn’t change anything about it. 

Then, after the snap and Peter was gone… Pepper and him found out they were having a girl which Tony did not expect but he was happy because he didn’t want a boy baby to replace his other boy who wasn’t there anymore… when Tony wished but thought he would never see his boy again. 

And ten years later, everything worked out for the best because he had a daughter and a son. 

The best of both worlds. 

“Okay, all done.” Tony announced once Peter was in his pull-up. Peter began clapping his hands because of Tony’s excitement. Tony checked the car seat to see how wet it was but it wasn’t too bad so he would clean it once they got home. 

“I want a hug.” Peter said when Tony went to pick him up to place him back in his car seat. “Please. I miss you.” 

Tony laughed. “But I’m right here, baby.” 

Peter stuck his bottom lip out in a pout. “Yeah but you’re not huggin’ me, dada.” 

Tony felt his heart melting and reached his arms out to hug Peter against his chest. “I love you so much, my baby.” 

Peter hugged Tony back as tightly as his tiny arms would let him. “I love you too, daddy!” 

“Now picnic time!” Morgan cheered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys!! Soooooo a lot has happened since I last uodated. I got hired for a full time position at my job and now on Wednesday I am quitting. I hate it there sooo much. It’s giving me anxiety and it’s just awful! I’m supposed to be working with the kids but instead I’m basically a janitor at a daycare and it’s to the point where I’m getting excited to see garbage. It’s sad and I’m quitting. I can’t do it anymore so I’m not:) 
> 
> In other news, I have a job interview on Wednesday so if that works out great if not, I’ll keep looking. 
> 
> In other other news, my kitten is adorable. I love him soooooo freaking much. His name is Minka and he’s the most beautiful thing ever! 
> 
> As for the next chapter ummm? I just started a new fic yesterday which I love so much and will potentially post soon but yea idkkkk when I’ll be posting the next chapter for this fic but if I can, I’ll get to it this weekend and post it then:))


	14. This is what I call home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys!! I feel so bad because I’m updating like once a month and I’m trying to get the chapters out sooner and I honestly have no excuse because I’m currently not working it going to school and I’m not doing anything at all but writing soooooo idkkkkk buttttt I have started a new fic which I am going to be posting soon:)) I’m so excited

Tony opened up Peter’s backdoor and smiled widely at his happy boy.

“Daddy!” Peter yelled, kicking his feet and reaching up for Tony to take him out of the car seat and pull him into his arms. 

“Hi baby. Are you ready to have a picnic?” Tony asked him as he undid the buckles and lifted Peter onto his hip. He grabbed Peter’s now wet clothes and held it with his other hand. 

“Yeah! Are-are we gonna go to um, to the park too?” Peter asked his dad and wrapped an arm around his neck. 

Tony put the clothes under his arm to grab a bag and help bring it into the house. “Yeah. We can find a nice place with a park.” 

Peter bounced excitedly in his arms as they walked into the house where Tony placed him on his feet and tossed the wet clothes onto the floor for now. That was a problem for later on tonight. 

“Let’s go get some pants and shoes on you.” Tony said, holding his hand out for Peter to take which he did. 

Morgan walked into the house with two bags and placed them on the floor. “Mom said that you need to bring in the baby gates, dad.” 

Tony was so caught up with Peter that it completely went over his head that there was stuff to bring it. It was as if right now, his whole world revolved around Peter and in a way, it did. 

“Right. Okay, Morg, then can you take Peter upstairs to go pee and get some pants on while I go help mom?” Tony asked, picking Peter up and setting him on his feet by Morgan. 

“Yeah. Come on, Peter.” Morgan grabbed Peter’s hand and pulled him up the stairs and into their parents bedroom. “You go pee while I find some pants for you.” 

Peter tried to climb onto the bed but Morgan pulled him by the back of his pull-up. “Stop!” Peter screamed but was pulled onto the floor. 

“Stop it, Peter. Go into the bathroom.” Morgan told him as she pulled him by his arm but Peter shook his head and screamed. “You’re a baby.” 

Peter fell onto his butt and crossed his arms over his chest. “No! I’m not a baby!” 

“Are too.” 

“Am not!” 

“Are too!” 

“Am not!” Peter screamed and went to stand up again but Morgan pushed him back down which caused Peter to start crying. “Daddy!” 

Morgan immediately got onto her knees by Peter and tried to comfort him because she didn’t want to get in trouble. “Wait. It’s okay. I’m sorry, Peter. It’s okay. Don’t cry.” 

Peter wiped at his tears and stopped crying. He sucked in a breath of air and stood up to walk out of the room but Morgan ran to stand in front of the doorway. “Wait. I have to find your pants first and help you go pee.” 

“Don’ needa pee, Morgan.” Peter said as he rubbed at his eye. 

“Daddy said to just try.” Morgan dragged Peter into the bathroom and over to the toilet where she then placed the potty seat onto the toilet and went to pull the pull-up off of Peter. “I have to take this off first.” 

“No! Ahhh!” Peter tried to push Morgan away but she was bigger and stronger than him so she eventually got the pull-up off and tossed it on the ground then went to go pick Peter up. “No! Daddy.” 

“I’m gonna tell daddy that you’re bad. Then we’ll go on the picnic without you.” Morgan threatened him and lifted him onto the toilet but she missed and Peter fell onto the floor, landing on his butt between the toilet and the counter. 

Peter immediately started crying real tears and stood up to go seek some comfort from his daddy, away from Morgan. 

Peter ran out of the bedroom and walked down the stairs as carefully as he could without falling. 

He spotted Pepper first and picked up his pace a bit until he was in her arms. 

“Oh Peter. What happened?” Pepper put down the groceries and walked over to the stairs to pick Peter up. 

Tony walked into the house and immediately heard Peter crying then found him standing on the stairs. His heart broke at the sight of his baby and he wanted to handle it but Pepper beat him to it. He had to remember that Peter was both their kids now. 

“Mommy!” Peter cried out and reached desperately for her. She lifted Peter up and pulled her crying child into her arms, setting Peter on her hip and wiping his tears with her free hand. 

“It’s okay now. What happened?” Pepper asked and turned around so Tony could help comfort Peter as well. 

Peter pointed to the stairs and continued to cry harder then laid his head on Pepper’s shoulder. 

Tony rubbed his back. “It’s okay, baby. But can you tell us what happened?” 

Peter lifted his head off of Peppers shoulder and reached out for Tony so Tony took him from his wife’s arms and held his baby, rocking him slightly. “Tell daddy what happened?” 

Peter pointed to the stairs again. “Morgan! She’s a meanie.” 

Pepper nodded in understanding and squeezed Peter’s foot before going upstairs to find out what exactly happened and to hear both sides of the story. 

Tony moved Peter onto his hip and wiped all of his tears. “It’s okay. Mommy’s going to find out what happened now. Then we’ll go on our picnic.” 

Peter nodded his head and grinned. “Yeah. And go play at the park.” 

After raising two kids, Tony still had absolutely no idea how their moods could change so quickly. Even when Peter was a teen, Tony remembers a time where he was crying about putting the wrong sauce on his food and then two seconds later, he was back to be happy and smiling. 

It would forever remain a mystery. 

Tony walked up the stairs with Peter and then set him on his feet. Peter’s hand immediately held onto his finger as they walked into Morgan’s bedroom where she was hiding under her rocking chair. 

Pepper was sitting on the carpet across from her so Tony sat down beside her. “Did you tell mommy what happened?” 

Morgan gave a slight head nod and crawled out from under the chair. Peter leaned against Tony’s side and wrapped his arms around his neck. 

“Sorry, Peter. I was being rude to you and-and I’ll try my best to not do it again.” Morgan apologized and looked over at Peter through her eyelashes. 

Peter shook his head against Tony’s. “You mean.” 

“Petey, she apologized so what do you say now?” Tony asked, pulling Peter so he was standing in front of him. 

“I say no.” Peter said, trying to sit down in Tony’s lap but Tony didn’t let him. 

“No. You hug and you make up. Right?” Tony spoke slowly so that Peter understood. 

“Yeah.” The five year old then walked over to Morgan and hugged her. When he pulled away, he was giggling and ran back over to his dad and jumped onto his lap. 

“Good. Now that that is out of the way,” Tony stood up with Peter and lifted him into his feet. “do you want to get him ready while I pack the stuff we need?” 

Pepper happily took Peter’s hand in hers. “Yep. Say bye daddy. See you when I get some pants on.” 

Peter giggled and waved bye to Tony as he was led out of the room. “Bye daddy! See you af’er I get pants on.” 

Once the family of four were in the car, Tony typed in their destination on his GPS. Over all the years, he’s memorized where mostly everything was but for some reason the place that they want to go to is impossible for him to memorize with all the off road driving and so that’s when the GPS comes in handy. 

Peter was kicking the back of his seat but it wasn’t hard since he could barely reach it but it was enough to start annoying Tony. “Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?” 

“What is it, Peter?” Tony asked, looking in his rearview mirror to see that Peter was picking his nose. He smiled fondly and waited for Peter to answer him. 

“Oh um, I forgot.” The five year old shrugged his shoulders and tried to tug on his car seat belts but Tony saw. 

“Stop that, Peter. Keep your seatbelt on.” Tony warned him, preparing for Peter to start making a big deal about it but he thankfully didn’t and went back to looking out the window. 

“Are we there yet?” Morgan asked now that no one was talking in the car. 

Tony checked the ata on the GPS and cringed. They had only been in the car for ten minutes and still had an hour and twenty minutes to go. “Not yet, Morg. Did you bring your iPad?” 

Morgan reached down to the seat between her and Peter’s car seats and pulled her iPad out of her bag. “Yep. I almost forgot.” 

Happy that Morgan was happy, Tony turned the kids music that was playing in the background, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel in the rhythm. No matter how much he tried to deny it, he actually liked listening to kids' music. 

It was calming and maybe it was the fact that he only listened to it when his kids were around but still, he liked it. 

Two stops and one emergency pull over for Peter to go pee later, they were driving down the excluded dirt road that would lead them to the open field park with a forest ravine surrounding it. 

They used to drive there all the time when Morgan was a baby but the trips became less and less as time went on. Depression was hitting Tony harder almost everyday so they had to stop doing a lot of things even if the distraction was fine most of the time. 

But now he didn’t have to think about that because right behind him in the back seat was his son. 

“We’re here.” Tony announced, parking the car in his own parking spot since there was actually no parking lot, and shutting it off. 

“Yay! Woah, it feels so much bigger since the last time we came here.” Morgan took off her seatbelt and leaned over Peppers seat to look out the front window. 

Peter was making grabby hands for Morgan to help him out of his car seat. “Me too! Out.” 

“I’m coming, Pete.” Tony said and got out of the car, opening up the back door but Morgan was already helping to unbuckle Peter. “Thanks, little miss.” 

“You’re welcome, daddy.” Morgan grinned up at her dad and helped Peter get his arms out of the straps. “Do you need help getting out of the car, Pete?” 

Peter shook his head and held his arms out for Tony. “No. Daddy. My daddy.” 

Pressing a bunch of kisses to his son's face, Tony picked up Morgan with his other arm and walked over to the trunk with both of his babies in his arms. “Look what I found.” 

Pepper cooed at the beautiful sight in front of her. She pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures to have the memory saved forever. That would definitely be going up on the wall. 

Tony placed both of his children on the ground and placed a hat on Peter’s head. Peter immediately took it off to look at what was placed on his head. “Keep it on, Pete, because it’s hot. See, Morgan has one.” 

“I’d just lookin’.” Peter looked at the hat and pointed to the dog on the front then turned it around to show Tony. “Look daddy, it’s a doggie!” 

“Woah, what sound does a dog make?” Tony asked, a fun way he learned to teach Morgan about anything and everything when she was younger. 

Peter started making barking sounds and then giggling at himself. 

Pepper pulled a stroller out of the trunk and Tony eyed it. “When did you put that in there?” He was the one who packed the trunk and he didn’t recall putting a stroller in. 

As Pepper opened it up, she replied. “When you were putting Peter in his car seat. There. Now we don’t have to carry everything and just put it all in here.” 

“Oh. You’re so smart.” The billionaire pressed a peck to his wife’s lips. “And I thought I was the genius.” 

“Didn’t you hear, dad,” Morgan said cheekily while he swung from Tony’s hand. “Mommy’s smarter than you.” 

Tony gasped. “Betrayed by my own daughter. How dare you.” He pushed Morgan’s face away and she laughed and pushed him back like they always did when they messed with each other. 

Peter walked over to the stroller and tried to climb in over the bar in front. All three watched him so Tony walked over and gently grabbed Peter’s tiny hands in his. “What’re you doin’, baby?” 

Peter used Tony’s hand to help himself get inside. “It’s my stroller.” 

It wasn’t. It used to be one of Morgan's many strollers that she barely used since she preferred to run rather than sit in a stroller. 

“It can be yours now if you want but we’re all walking. That’s for our picnic stuff.” Tony explained to his five year old, trying not to laugh at how freaking adorable he was. 

Peter paused to look at Tony. “And me?” 

When Tony lifted Peter up and set him on his hip, he was already expecting the crying to come with it. “We’re all going to walk.” 

Peter wiped at his dry cheeks as if there were tears on it and Tony shook his head at his son's dramatics. Peter then kicked his legs to be placed on the down so Tony did that and moved to help Pepper put everything into the stroller and be on their way. 

“My turn. I push it now.” Peter walked up to Pepper to say and tugged on her pants. “Mommy.” 

Pepper didn’t know how she was supposed to say no to that name. Although, the stroller was much too heavy for a five year old to push so she had to crush Peter’s dreams. “It’s too heavy, sweetie. You can watch me push it.” 

Peter stopped walking and shook his head with a pout forming on her lips. She stopped walking as well and looked up ahead at Tony and Morgan who were way up on the path. 

“We have to go catch up to daddy and Morgan. Come, Peter.” Pepper held her hand out for the five year old but he turned and started bolting in the other direction so Pepper left the stroller to chase after him. 

For such little legs, Peter sure did run fast but Pepper used to be on the track team in high school and college so she caught up to Peter and grabbed his arm to lift him up. 

“No! Bad mommy!” Peter yelled at her as he struggled to get out of her arms but she had a death grip on him. “Let go!” 

Pepper walked back to the stroller and placed Peter on the ground, kneeling down in front of him. “That is enough. You are going to walk beside mommy and hold her hand or we will go back to the car while daddy and Morgan have a fun afternoon together.” 

Peter was already reaching out to hug Pepper. “I sorry! Sorry mommy.” 

Pepper hugged Peter back. She wasn’t mad at him but he had to learn that he had to listen to Tony and her. She pulled away. “What will it be?” 

Peter reached out for Pepper’s hand so she stood up and pushed the stroller with her other hand. 

Tony and Morgan were waiting for them by the forest entrance by the time Pepper and Peter caught you to them. “What took you guys so long? Morg and I already ate and swam for a bit.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes at her husband and looked down at Peter who had his thumb in his mouth. “Take dirty fingers out of your mouth.” 

Peter did and walked over to Tony, demanding to be picked up. “Daddy where did yous go swimming?” 

Tony reached for Peter’s hand instead. “I was just joking. We can go splash in the water after we eat.” 

The four of them walked into the forest and followed the dirt path until they landed on a sunny grassy patch right next to a stream of water that Peter was already eyeballing. 

Tony was surprised that Peter was turning out to be a water baby. He hated water as a teen and even refused showers some nights so Tony had to bribe him if he had enough energy. 

That seemed like a lifetime ago. 

“Peter, look at daddy because I want to tell you something.” Tony kneeled down in front of Peter and made sure that Peter was paying attention to him. “You will not run into the water without asking mommy or daddy first, do you understand me?” 

Peter pointed at Morgan who was helping Pepper lay the blankets down. “And Morgan too.” 

“No. Not Morgan. Just mommy and daddy.” 

“Okay daddy.” Peter pulled out of Tony’s hold and ran over to the blankets to roll on them. He sat up when Morgan started doing the same so he joined her again. The giggling that was coming from both of their kids, felt so nice to hear for the parents. 

To Tony, it was still so surreal that they had two kids now. Two. And he had a son. His life truly was complete now. 

Pepper sat down and pulled her youngest into her lap but Peter wiggled out right away so he could continue to roll around with Morgan. “Want your sippy cup, Peter?” 

That got the five year olds attention. He turned to look at her and reached for the drink in her hands. “Thank you.” He took a sip and his eyes lit up. “Mmm! Yummy juice.” 

Tony sat himself down as well and helped Pepper pull out all the food and snacks. “Look, Morg. Mommy packed you your favourite cookies.” 

Morgan’s eyes lit up. “Awesome! Thank you. I’m gonna share some with Peter. But after we eat.” She added quickly to Tony and Pepper’s delight. 

The family of four began eating their food but it was hard to get Peter to sit still with all of the distractions around them. Being out in nature and all. Maybe it was different for Morgan because she was older or maybe it was because she grew up in nature her whole life. 

They were practically always outside and only coming inside to sleep and bathe but that was pretty much it. She was and most likely always will be a nature girl. 

Peter on the other hand, he loved everything. He loved being outside but he also loved being inside so it was a mixture of the two. He was a lot more wild at his age than Tony remembers Morgan being at five years old. 

Once the family were done eating, Morgan was standing up and looking at her mom. “Can me and Petey swim in the stream? Please.” 

Peter looked over at her and continued to suck on his sippy cup while he watched Morgan. 

“Yeah. Don’t go pass the trees and stay in this area.” Pepper told her but she trusted that Morgan wouldn’t go far either way. Pepper kicked her shoes off and rolled up her pants to join her daughter. 

After Peter saw Pepper go in too, he put his sippy cup down and stood up. “I wanna come too!” 

“Then come, Peter. Come hold mommy’s hand.” Pepper held out her hand for her son who already had no shoes on and was wearing shorts. Peter ran over to her but Tony stayed back to watch his beautiful family for a few minutes, just taking in the fact that he was privileged enough to love three of them. 

Peter went to go sit down but Pepper lifted him back up by his arms. “Don’t sit. Your bum will get all wet.” 

Peter started laughing and went to sit down anyways, soaking his pants and underwear. Tony shook his head fondly at his kid and motioned Pepper to send him over. “Come, Pete. Daddy will help you.” 

Pepper held Peter’s hand so he could step out of the water without falling in and getting soaked. He ran over to Tony with a smile. “Come in, daddy.” 

“I will but let’s take this off first.” Tony tugged his wet pants and underwear off so he could lay out and hope that it dries in time for them to leave. He pulled Peter’s shirt off next and stood up, taking Peter’s hand in his to go play with his family. 

Peter bent down to pull a rock out from the bottom but he ended up falling onto his butt and laughing uncontrollably at the action which caused everyone else to start laughing with him. 

“I was just trying to pick up my rock.” Peter explained to everyone and stood up but he picked the rock up along with him and walked over to Tony to show him first. “Look! It’s soft.” 

“The rock is soft?” Tony asked him and went to grab the supposed soft rock. 

“Yeah!” 

“I think you mean smooth, buddy. Because it’s a very smooth rock.” Tony took the rock from Peter’s hands to examine it before handing it back to Peter. He wondered how many rocks they would be leaving with today. 

Peter dropped the rock back in the water and went to pick up another one. “This ones smooth, daddy.” Peter let Tony touch the rock and then he was walking over to the blanket to place the rock down there. “He comes home with me.” 

“Come, Pete. We’re all going to walk down the stream a bit.” Tony walked over to the edge of the stream to help Peter climb into the water again so he didn’t break his ankle or fall on his face. He picked Peter up and held him on his hip while he walked up ahead a bit to meet up with Morgan and Pepper. 

“Daddy, down.” Tony placed Peter back in the water since Peter started kicking in his arms. “Morgan, I comin’.” 

Peter walked up to Morgan and went to reach for her hand but he fell into the water, catching himself with his hands. “You’re okay. Stand up.” Tony rushed out before Peter could think about it and start crying. 

“Yeah. I’m ‘Kay!” Peter pushed himself up and reached his hand out to Morgan. “Wan’ hold my hand?” 

“Okay.” Morgan took a hold of her little brother’s hand and slowed down to his pace as they walked along the small stream. 

Pepper and Tony watched them without saying a word. Pepper couldn’t resist pulling out her phone to snap a few pictures of her kids before reaching out to hold her husband's hand. 

“We’re so lucky.” She smiled and bumped her head against his arm. 

“I know.” Tony didn’t know what else to say. There were no words to describe how happy he was. He felt like he could finally rest now and enjoy the life he was always supposed to live. He was happy. 

The family continued walking for a few more minutes. Tony and Pepper continued to watch Peter lose his balance and fall over a few times but then Morgan was pulling him up. Rather roughly but her heart was in the right place. 

They started to get to a deeper end with the water quickly reaching Peter’s hips so Tony decided it was time to go back. “Morgan, stop walking. Look how deep you guys are getting. Let’s go back now.” 

“I see fishies, daddy!” Peter let go of Morgan’s hand and pointed into the water. 

“Wow, Petey. But look how deep it’s getting. And it’s starting to get super late so we gotta go back now.” Tony let go of Peppers hand and started walking towards Peter, getting the bottom of his pants soaked in the process. 

Peter let out a loud scream and went to turn around to run into the deeper water but Tony grabbed his hand before he could. “I don’t think so, little man. Come with daddy.” Tony picked Peter up and set him on his hip to walk back to Pepper and Morgan who were having a photo shoot in the shallow water. 

“Mommy! Daddy sawed the fish.” Peter told her excitedly as Pepper aimed her phone at the two of them to snap a bunch of pictures. Peter smiled widely and made a bunch of cute head poses at the camera making Tony wonder where Peter’s model side came from. 

Tony put him down in the water and watched Peter pick up a rock out of the water and pose with it while Pepper snapped away. He tried to think back to when Peter was a teen, if he was a natural in front of the camera for pictures but he can’t remember sticking a camera in his face and snapping over a hundred pictures of him in one minute. 

Either way, the pictures were going to be adorable. 

“And there!” Peter pointed down the stream to the fish that he just saw splash out of the water. “Fishy, daddy!” 

Tony looked behind him but he didn’t see any fish. “I don’t see any fish, baby. Go smile more for mommy.” 

Peter crossed his arms and looked at Pepper with a pout on his lips. “No. No more pictures.” 

Pepper cooed and took a few more before putting her phone away. Definitely the cutest and frame worthy. “Okay. All done. Let’s go find some more fish.” 

Peter tried to run over to Morgan but he ended up falling down a few times before he got to her. He eventually caught up to her and reached out to hold onto her hand. “Morgan, yous lookin’ for fish?” 

“Yeah but I don’t see any.” Morgan ran ahead but that caused Peter to fall forward onto his hands and knees again but this time it was a lot harder than before. 

He turned onto his butt so he was sitting in the water and started crying for someone to pick him up so Tony reached him first and didn’t hesitate to pick his baby up and hold him in his arms. “You’re okay. Look, no cuts.” 

“Ow.” Peter held out his finger to show Tony. “Hurts.” 

Tony examined his finger but didn’t see anything wrong with it so he pressed a quick kiss to it, gaining a giggle out of Peter. “There. All better now.” 

Peter wiped at his eyes and nodded so Tony put him back in the water but held his hand instead. “You can hold daddy’s hand.” 

“Not Morgan’s.” Peter said, pointing at his older sister who was now way up ahead. Even though their age gaps weren’t that much, there was still a huge difference mentally and physically at the two ages so that was something that they had to work with right now. 

Once they arrived at their picnic spot, it was already starting to get dark out, meaning that it was almost Peter’s bedtime. 

Tony put Peter down with Morgan and stood there to watch them while Pepper went to go pack up the blankets and basket. “Tony, are you putting Peter in a pull-up for the car ride back?” 

“Uh… are his underwear and pants still wet?” He asked, waiting for her to check them but he probably was going to either way so they didn’t have to worry about any accidents on the drive back. 

“Yeah. I’ll leave a pull-up out for him and his shirt.” Pepper said and continued packing up. 

Tony turned back to Peter who was squatting down rather suspiciously. “What are you doing, Pete?” 

Peter grinned mischievously at him. “Pee pee.” He simply said and continued to go while Morgan looked at him. When Peter finished, he stood up and grabbed another rock with him to hand to Morgan who threw it back in. “No! Mine!” 

“I don’t want it.” Morgan told him, annoyed that he was handing her a rock. 

Peter bent down to grab the rock again but this time he went to hand it to Tony instead. “Here you go, daddy. It’s pretty.” 

“Aw, thank you, baby. I love it so much.” Tony looked at the rock in his hand, it was just a rock but Peter picked it so it was going to be coming home with them. “Let’s go put it in the stroller so we can take it home with us.” 

Peter nodded his head and walked with his dad to the edge of the stream, getting help to climb out of it and onto the grass. “And I put it in my room.” Peter announced which made Tony think about how they still had to get Peter sleeping in his own bed. 

That was going to be fun. He could just picture all the crying and screaming that was going to come from that. 

“In the bottom.” Peter squatted down to place both of his rocks in the bottom basket of the stroller then looked up at Pepper. “I put ‘dem in ‘dare.” 

“Good job, Peter. We’ll take them home with us.” Pepper ruffled his hair and went to put her shoes on. She looked over at Morgan who was still playing in the water and called her out. 

“Daddy, I put my rocks ‘dare.” Peter pointed to the bottom basket to show Tony even though he had already seen and heard Peter tell Pepper. 

“Now they get a ride home. Come stand here, Pete.” Tony kneeled down and grabbed Peter’s damp underwear just to dry off a bit of the excess water on him before the pull-up went on. “Did you have fun, Peter?” 

Peter watched Tony and nodded his head. “Uh huh. When-when we go home are we gonna go swimmin’ too, daddy? In-in um, the ocean?” 

Tony chuckled and shook his head fondly at his baby. “It’s a lake, baby. Not an ocean. I’ll take you to the ocean one day but for tonight, you need to have a bath and get into bed to go sleep.” 

“Yeah.” Peter agreed with him and looked over at Morgan as Tony slipped the pull-up onto him and grabbed his shirt. Tony pulled the shirt over Peter’s head and helped him with his shoes then stood up. “All done, daddy?” 

“Yep. All done.” Tony looked around, just to double check they got everything before he grabbed the stroller to start pushing it. 

Once Peter saw what he was doing, he ran to the front of it to climb in but Tony let him. If that’s what Peter wanted then so be it. Plus he never got to push Peter in a stroller before. 

They all walked out of the forest in which Tony was incredibly grateful that Peter was in the stroller because it was dark with barely any light for a few steps so Tony was glad that he knew Peter was safely in the stroller. 

Once they got out to the park, it was a lot brighter from the sun setting but also from the park lights turning on. Morgan looked over at Tony with a beaming smile on her face. “Daddy, can I run to the car?” 

Tony was about to answer but Peter was speaking up. “Me too! I wanna run too.” 

“Okay, wait for your brother, Morgan.” Tony stopped the stroller to pick Peter up and out of it then set him on his feet and watched him run across the field towards the car with his big sister. 

He loved watching his two babies. 

Peter got to the car but ran back to him so he could climb into the stroller and get pushed the rest of the way which Tony found amusing. 

Once they got to the car, he pulled Peter out and held him on his hip while he helped Pepper load up the trunk.

“Wheres did my rocks go?” Peter asked after he looked around and didn’t see them. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Tony for answers. 

“I have them. I’m gonna put them in here until we get home, see?” Pepper placed the rocks in a tiny space in the trunk for Peter to see. 

Once the trunk was packed, Tony opened up the back door to put Peter into his car seat. He saw that Morgan was already in the car and looking rather tired herself. “You sleepy, little miss?” 

“No. I’m good.” Morgan rubber at her eyes and watched Tony buckle her little brother into the car seat. After both Tony and Pepper got into the car and Tony started driving, Morgan was speaking up. “Daddy, can I watch a movie with Peter?” 

“Sure. Can you help him with his screen?” Tony glanced back at them before he pulled off of the dark, dirt road and onto the brighter, paved road. It was almost pitch black outside the car but it made it all the more cozy to be safe inside the car. 

“Yeah, can I take off my seatbelt so I can reach?” She asked, already making a move to do so. 

Tony was parked on the dirt road in the pitch black forest so he hoped no cars came. “Yeah. We’re parked but just be quick.” 

Morgan quickly jumped out of her own car seat to help Peter with his tv screen but Peter grabbed between his legs. “I need go pee pee, daddy!” 

“You’re wearing a pull-up, Pete. Just go.” Tony told him and turned around in his seat to see how Morgan was getting on. “Did you get it?” 

“Yep.” She responded then quickly got buckled back into her car seat. 

They were off once again after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter:)) it took my while to write actually but it was fun because peter is just so cute!! Anyways I hope everyone is doing fine with this whole pandemic going on. I really wish I knew what was going to happen with it and with my future, it makes me so excited to think about my future but also so incredibly stressed out because I just don’t know what’s going to happen and I just want to be happy


	15. When we’re all together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to get this fic updated so it’s not once a month but it’s so hard so sorry about that!! I hope you enjoy this chapter:))

“Do you have the balloons?” Tony asked Pepper while he carried in a box full of streamers to hang around the house. 

Pepper was holding Peter on her hip and had the phone on hold in her other hand. “Um… not yet. The delivery guys were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago but they got lost so now we have to wait another twenty minutes.” 

Tony groaned. He was stressed. Who knew planning a birthday party would be so stressful. 

He couldn’t believe his little girl was turning ten years old. It seemed unbelievable. Ten years ago she was born and he started a whole new chapter of his life. 

Morgan was going to be turning double digits and he was still trying to process that. Even though her actual birthday was on Monday, they were celebrating on Saturday and a bunch of people were going to be arriving at two and it was eleven and they still weren’t even close to being done yet. 

It was going to be a water park theme so they were setting up a bunch of inflatable water slides, slip and slides, water balloons and a bunch of other stuff. Tony couldn’t wait to see what the yard looked like when it was done but he was more grateful for the fact that the weather was nice. 

It was supposed to rain all weekend but it was a bright, hot sunny day. 

Morgan was confined to her bedroom until the party was ready because Tony and Pepper wanted it to be a surprise for her. 

Pepper was taken off hold and started talking with the delivery guys so Tony held his arms out for Peter who was supposed to be napping. “Come here, little man.” 

Peter reached his arms out for Tony and happily let himself be held by his dad. “Mommy’s talking to the water slide people.” 

Tony nodded and shifted Peter into his other hip. Pepper was supposed to put him down for a nap but he didn’t know if she tried or gave up after changing him into his pull-up. “Are you tired? Do you think you’re ready for a nap?” 

The five year old shook his head and smiled. “No. I wanna see what ‘dare playin’ outside, daddy.” 

Tony walked up the stairs while he pulled out his phone to see four missed calls from the caterer. He was going to have to take care of that later. “No, baby. No ones playing outside because we’re all waiting for you to have your nap first.” 

Peter played with Tony’s necklace as he spoke. “But I’m not sleepy.” 

“You have to try.” Tony was about to walk into his and Pepper’s bedroom to put Peter down for his nap but he turned and went to go check on Morgan instead. He opened her door and smiled. “Hey, pretty girl. What’re you up to?” 

“Hi daddy. I’m just playing with my babies.” Tony walked into the room and looked down at all the dolls who had on real diapers that they had bought for Morgan’s dolls. She was a pro at it and she was only ten. Nine still, Tony wasn’t rushing anything. 

He hadn’t even changed his first diaper until he was way into his thirties and now, here he was, having a nine year old daughter who was already better at it than him. Well, with a baby that doesn’t move. 

“Perfect. Do you want to play with Peter for a bit while we get everything set up?” Tony asked even as he was placing Peter on his feet. 

“Sure. Come sit here, Peter.” Morgan patted the spot next to her babies but Peter sat down somewhere else so she groaned. “Here, Peter. I’m gonna change you.” 

Peter stood up and walked over to that spot then Morgan was pushing him down. “No. I don’ wan’ to, Morgan.” Peter fought her and tried to sit back up. 

“Morg, keep his pull-up on because I’m coming back up in a few minutes to put him down for a nap.” Tony told her then left the bedroom and shut the door behind him. He had no idea if Morgan would listen to him but he wasn’t worried about that right now. 

Peter crawled over to the treasure chest full of toys and looked through it. “This is cool. It’s like a pirate. Arrrr!” 

Morgan grabbed the plastic sword from him. “Don’t touch it. That’s mine.” 

“But I wan’ play with it.” Peter tried to grab the sword again but Morgan pushed him so Peter let out a cry out then went back to searching in the chest for more toys for him to play with. He picked up a hat and put it on him then turned to look at Morgan. “Look!” 

“That’s cool.” Morgan quickly glanced at her younger brother then went back to playing with her dolls so she could finish changing them and getting them dressed. 

Peter busied himself with playing with the toys that he’s never seen before. He didn’t know why he didn’t come into Morgan's bedroom more often since it was fun in there. “Morgan? Help me put my dress on.” 

Morgan laid her last doll out and turned to look at Peter attempting to put a princess dress on so she stood up and went to help him. “Okay but then you have to be my next baby for me.” 

“No. I just wan’ you to help me.” Peter stood up so Morgan could help him get the dress on but then Tony was walking in to put Peter down for his nap so he wasn’t cranky later on that day once the party started. 

“Pete, nap time. Come here.” Tony held his arms out for Peter who had apparently turned into a Disney princess while he was gone. 

“Look daddy.” The dress hung over his feet so he tripped on it on his way over to the door to show his daddy. 

“Woah. You look so cool. I think you rock that dress but we have to take it off for nap time.” Tony kneeled down so he could pull the dress off of Peter but the five year old tried to grab it and stomped his feet. 

“No! Nooooo! I wan’ it!” Peter tried to reach for the dress again but Tony took it off of him and set it on Morgan’s chair. 

“Nope. It’s nap time. You’re already cranky so let’s go to sleep.” He picked the now screaming five year old up and held him like a sack of potatoes out of Morgan’s bedroom. 

It was going to work out perfectly since Peter could nap for an hour and a half then he would wake up just in time to get changed into party clothes. As long as he went to bed quickly. Tony didn’t want to take any chances so he had brought up a bottle with him to help Peter get to sleep faster, knowing that always did the trick even though they were trying to wean him off of it. 

He was about to carry Peter into his bedroom which was now fully complete with his bed built and set up along with his bed rails, his dressers and toys all in there but Tony and Pepper were still letting him sleep with them every night. 

Tony knew they were setting up bad habits but in all honesty, he didn’t care. He lost his child for ten years, not knowing if he was ever going to get Peter back and now he had his baby back and if Peter didn’t want to sleep in his own bed, then he didn’t have to. 

That was a problem for later. Much, much later. 

So Tony carried Peter into the master bedroom and laid the crying five year old on the bed and handed him his bottle before he tried to run away from him like he usually did. 

He had taken Peter to Morgan’s paediatrician a few days ago, just to make sure everything was okay inside and out especially since Peter was one of those who had gotten snapped and de-aged. 

Everything was okay but they had to start weaning Peter off of his naps soon which neither of them were looking forward to. Tony still thinks that Peter needs his daily nap because he gets cranky but his paediatrician had said to try and cut it down and see if Peter reacts to it well. 

They had cut it down to an hour and a half but he hadn’t noticed any difference yet. He just didn’t want to cut nap time out. 

Although he was sure it was going to have to happen eventually since Peter was going to be starting school soon. He was looking forward to that but also dreading it at the same time. 

Morgan was going to start full time school again very soon so he had no idea how that was going to go.

After all those who had gotten snapped came back, the world was in chaos and still is. Although a lot has been taken under control, the return of the dusted victims definitely put everything on pause for quite awhile. 

There were new schools having to be built, new houses, basically new everything to accommodate billions of people after having half the world’s population wiped out. 

The world was definitely a mess right now so Tony wanted to keep his family as far away from it as possible and he was grateful for what he had, but it was time for Morgan to go back to school and pretty soon, Peter as well. 

They had to start what was going to be their new routine. 

Tony was worried and stressed about it because everything seemed a mess and was so unknown but everything would happen with time so he couldn’t do anything about it. 

Because he was the reason for everything happening in the world right now, he felt a lot of responsibility to help out so he had a team, a very large team of people working on it to help reunite friends and family members, accumulate those who have lost someone or basically anyone who was being affected by the duster returning which was basically everyone. 

He continued to stroke Peter’s curls gently as he watched Peter drink his bottle and his eyes start to shut. He was lying next to him in hopes that he would fall asleep faster and it always did the trick. 

After a few minutes, Peter pulled his bottle from his mouth and put it next to him so he could put his thumb into his mouth instead and get more comfortable on the bed. Tony sat there and continued to run his fingers through his hair, waiting for Peter to fall asleep so he could leave. 

He quietly shut his bedroom door and went downstairs to go see how things were getting on. There was still so much to do and not enough time. 

Pepper was on the phone and opening boxes with her other hand, looking extremely stressed out. He slowly approached her to see if she needed any help but was a tad scared that she was going to freak out at him for asking. “Do you need any help with anything?” 

She hung up the phone and sighed loudly. Tony could see how stressed she was. “There’s about… a million and one things I need you to do.” 

“Okay. Just tell me.” 

“I want the whole downstairs decorated for Morgan to come down and see since no ones going to be coming inside besides for using the bathroom so I need you to clean that. Also, Ally just had a baby so I told her she could bring her newborn inside whenever she wanted so she’ll probably be in here most of the time to nurse him.” Pepper stood up and walked to grab another box while he was making mental notes. 

“Alright. Marking it all down.” Tony tapped on the side of his head which caused Pepper to roll her eyes at him. 

“Can you handle that?” 

“Yes. Obviously. I can’t believe you would have such little faith in me.” He went to grab a box to start decorating but Pepper was grabbing his arm. 

“Can you also get Morgan and Peter ready?” 

“Yes.” 

“I hung Morgan’s party dress on our bedroom door and Peter’s dress up top and shorts are hanging up as well. Morgan wants pigtails in her hair so can you do that?” Pepper asked seriously but he was annoyed that she had such little faith in him. 

“Yes, honey. I can handle getting two kids ready.” He reassured her. 

As it turned out, he could not handle it. 

Getting two kids ready was definitely a lot harder than getting one kid ready but his first mistake was waking Peter up before having Morgan ready. Now he had two wild kids running around. 

And to think, getting the whole downstairs decorated by himself was less stressful than this. He cleaned the whole house, decorated the downstairs and the freaking bathroom so he was pretty proud of himself. 

Now, he wasn’t. 

“Peter, stop jumping and come here so I can change your pull-up.” Tony reached across the bed for Peter but he jumped away while singing something about dinosaurs in space. Tony cringed. “Come, Pete. I’ll be quick.” 

“No, daddy. I’m bouncing.” Peter moves away from him as Morgan walked out of the bathroom. 

“Daddy, where’s mommy? She always does my hair better than you.” Morgan asked, totally back handing Tony with that comment. 

“She’s busy so I’m gonna do it.” He grabbed her dress off the back of the door and shut it so no more kids ran out. “Do you need help to change into this?” 

Morgan looked up at him with an annoyed look on her face. “Duh. I can’t do it myself.” 

“Okay then. It looks like ten year old Morgan is even sassier than nine year old Morgan.” He teased her which had a smack delivered to his arm. “Hey. No hitting.” 

Peter jumped off the bed and tried to leave the room so Tony used his other hand to keep the door shut but then Peter was swinging off of his arm. “Wee! Daddy, higher!” 

“Peter. Get off and take off your clothes because you’re next, Mr.” He shook Peter off of him and used his foot to hold the door shut while he helped Morgan get the dress on which was hell of a lot harder than it looked since it seemed like where so many more holes than just three. “Morgan, lift your arms up.” 

“I’m trying.” Morgan whined and then he eventually got the dress on and went to go zip up the back but Peter started lifting up her dress and trying to crawl under. “Hey, dad! Peter’s looking at me!” 

“Peter. Stop it.” He struggled to pull Peter’s legs out and sighed. Peter was definitely a hand full. “Can you start taking off your clothes so daddy can change your pull-up?” 

Peter shook his head and crawled back onto the bed. “Na-na boo-boo! You can’t catch me!” 

Tony finished zipping up the back of her dress and when she turned around, he felt his eyes start to water. His little girl was growing up into such a beautiful lady right in front of his eyes. “Look at you. You look so beautiful, little miss. Wow.” 

“Thanks daddy. Do I look like a princess?” Morgan spun around in a circle, making her dress spin outwards. 

“The most gorgeous princess I’ve ever seen. I love you so much, Morg. Happy early birthday.” He pulled her in for a hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head but it wasn’t for long because Peter was tugging on his hand. 

“Daddy. I wan’ see.” Peter pushed his way in so Tony moved aside to let Peter have a look. 

“Doesn’t your sister look pretty, Pete?” Tony asked him but Peter didn’t seem to care at all. 

“Uh huh.” Peter then turned to Tony and lifted his arms up, wanting to be held. “Up daddy.” 

“Okay, baby.” He lifted his youngest up and bent down to grab the wipes so he could get Peter ready now before doing Morgan’s hair. “You’ll never grow up, right, Pete? Do you promise you’ll always be my baby?” 

Peter nodded aggressively. “Yeah. I promise.” 

Tony pressed a bunch of kisses to Peter’s face then laid him on the bed and pulled his pants off in one movement. As he pulled the wet pull-up off, he spoke to Morgan. “Morg, can you do me a favour and hand me a toy?” 

He knew it was always easier doing this when Peter had a toy in his hand to stop him from reaching down there and touching his grubby hands everywhere. He tossed the pull-up onto the bed and took the toy from Morgan. “Thanks, Morg. Lift your legs, Pete. Gotta wipe your butt.” 

Peter looked at the toy then threw it at Tony and tried to roll over and crawl away. “No. Peter. Stop moving.” 

Tony pulled a now screaming and giggling Peter back to him and flipped him over so he could push Peter’s knees to his chest and finish what he was doing but Peter was kicking him and crawling away again so he sighed. 

“Okay. Morgan. Hand me your brush so I can brush your hair.” He wiped his hands with a clean baby wipe and looked over at Peter who was trying to stand on his head on the bed. 

“Don’t brush too hard because it pulls my knots.” Morgan warned him before handing the brush over and turning around to let her dad start brushing. 

“I’ll be gentle.” As he started brushing, he looked over at Peter who was kicking at the headboard and trying to flip over but Tony was worried he was going to fall off the bed so he moved over to sit downstairs and have Morgan stand in front of him. “Pete, no more. Settle down now.” 

“No! I’m-I’m tryin’ to flip.” Peter told him then did a somersault, kicking Tony in the back in the process. “I sorry, daddy.” Peter wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck, choking him. 

“It’s okay. A little tight though, Pete.” Tony unwrapped one of Peter’s hands from his neck and went back to brushing Morgan’s hair but Peter was trying to sit on his shoulders as if he were a climbing structure. “What are you doing? You’re crazy, Pete.” 

Peter started giggling as he climbed up but Tony was reaching behind him and lifting Peter over his head and onto his hip as he stood. “All done. You’re silly.” 

He took off Peter’s shift in one movement then stood Peter on his feet and bent over him. He grabbed another wipe and held Peter with a hand over his chest to quickly clean all the urine off then picked him back up to carry him into the bathroom. 

“Alright. Morgan, pick out the elastics you want in your hair so I can start.” He told her and shut the bathroom door so Peter didn’t try to escape again. “Sit on the toilet, Pete, and try to go before you get dressed.” 

Peter tried to climb into the bathtub to grab his action figure bath toys that were there but Tony picked himself up, placed the toilet seat on the toilet and sat Peter on top. 

He then walked back over to Morgan and tried to remember how to do her hair in pigtails. He didn’t want to have to call Pepper to come and do it for him since he swore he could do it. And he was going to. 

Tony looked over at Peter who was still on the toilet and unrolling all of the toilet paper so he hoped he had time to get Morgan’s hair done before Peter was done. 

Tony managed to get one pigtail in and was about to start with the other one but Peter was calling for him. “All done, daddy.” 

“Give me a second, Pete.” Tony let go of the parted piece and put the brush down to go help Peter out. “Come wash your hands and then wait here while I finish your sisters hair.” 

Peter pushed the stool up to the sink to wash his hands and watched his daddy. “It’s my birthday too, daddy?” 

Tony smiled fondly. “Not yet, baby. Your birthday is not for another year. It’s Morgan’s birthday today.” 

“Actually it’s not today but we’re celebrating today, dad.” The nine year old corrected him. 

Peter shut the water off and tried to climb onto the bathroom counter so he could stand on top but Tony was reaching over to take him off since he didn’t want any trips to the hospital today. Or at all. 

“I wanna sit up ‘dare, daddy.” The five year old whined out and sat down on the floor instead to try and take off Tony’s socks. 

Tony finished up with Morgan’s hair and proudly looked at his accomplishment. “All done! Look how beautiful you look, Morg. A real princess.” 

Morgan smiled at her finished look in the mirror then reached for hair gel. “Can you put these sparkles in it at the top so I can put my princess tiara on after?” 

“Yeah. Do you want a lot?” Peter was already standing up and trying to see what Tony had in his hand so Tony had to show him. “Look, Pete.” 

“I wan’ see.” Peter hung off of his dad's arm so Tony picked him up and set him on his hip so he could be a part of the process. 

It was Peter’s first time here to celebrate a birthday or celebrate anything for that matter. 

Last year, Morgan had a quieter birthday with just a few of her friends coming over for a sleepover and eating cake but this year, Tony wanted it to be huge. Mainly because Morgan was turning double digits and that was a huge deal but also because they had Peter back. 

Their family was complete now and Tony wanted this day to be extremely special. 

“All done! I did it but-but put in my hair, daddy.” Peter patted the top of his head for Tony to add it to his hair but Tony was going to be putting something else in his hair. 

“We have to get you dressed first.” He took Morgan’s hand to spin her around. “I can’t wait for mommy to see. She’s gonna love it.” 

Morgan touched her hair and skipped out of the bathroom so Peter kicked his legs to be put down so he could skip out of the bathroom as well but a little less gracefully. 

“Hurry, Peter. I wanna see everything.” Morgan leaned against the bedroom door but Tony knew she was going to have to be patient now since it was Peter’s turn. 

“Wait, Morg. I have to get Peter ready now. Do you want to pass me his underwear?” He grabbed the dress clothes off the back of the door that Pepper hung up for him and picked Peter up so he was standing on the bed. 

“Yay! This for Morgan’s birthday?” Peter asked as he stepped into his underwear and excitedly started to jump on the bed. Tony couldn’t wait to see his kids' faces when they saw what the yard looked like. 

“Yeah! Aren’t you excited? We’re gonna eat so much cake.” Tony was looking forward to that out of everything. He wanted to sit as a family and celebrate a birthday with the delicious cake, the best part about everything was that he had Peter. 

After getting Peter dressed in his shorts and button up dress top, Tony lifted Peter off the bed to bring him in the bathroom so he could do his hair. He couldn’t help but coo at how adorable Peter looked. 

Morgan seemed to agree with him. “You look so cute, Petey. We get to take pictures together!” 

Peter squealed while Tony put the gel into his hair, messing it up so it made his curls stick out more. “Look how cute you look, Petey. I could just eat you up.” 

Peter giggled as Tony lifted him back into his arms to press a bunch of kisses to his face. “No! Then ‘dare be nothin’ left.” 

“I love you so much. So much, Petey.” He pressed a bunch of kisses to his face again before setting him on the floor and opening up the bedroom door. “Let’s go show mommy and get this party started.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii guys!! I hope you liked that chapter! Obviously there’s going to be another part to it and I was going to include it in this chapter so it would all be one but I wanted to get this posted because I already made you guys wait long enough which I feel super bad about but I’ve just been writing other fics at the moment 
> 
> Also I’m kinda annoyed because I updated my phone and now for some reason I can’t copy and paste everything so like I have to go through the whole page and that’s so annoying so I have to see how to fix that because that’s too long 
> 
> This is Morgan’s dress: 
> 
> https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1S1ZabcfrK1RkSmLyq6xGApXaS/Kid-Party-Frock-Formal-Wear-Infant-Vestido-Tutu-Dresses-For-Girls-Birthday-Gown-For-5-6.jpg
> 
> Peter’s fancy outfit: 
> 
> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61trm8qV7JL._AC_UX569_.jpg


	16. It’s all right here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... two months later here I am. Honestly I have no idea how it’s been that long. It doesn’t seem like it’s actually been two months at all

Tony carried Peter down the stairs and held onto Morgan’s hand. 

He wanted to see her first reaction to the set up of the party, now that it was completely done. All they had to do now was wait for everyone to start arriving which would be in just a few minutes, just in time for Morgan to get a look at the fun to come. 

Pepper was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her daughter and opened her arms wide for her. “Happy birthday my beautiful girl. Mommy loves you so so much. Look at you, you look like a princess. Oh, and I can see that daddy did your hair.” 

As Morgan hugged her mom back, Tony was shrugging his shoulders as to say it was no big deal but it actually was and he was extremely proud of himself. She then pulled away so she could get a look at all the decorations. “Woah. It’s so pretty. There’s even a princess balloon! Woah! This is so amazing!” 

Pepper was then looking at Peter’s outfit but she couldn’t see the full thing since he was in Tony’s arms still. “And look at you. You look so handsome, Peter. Just like your daddy.” 

Peter grinned shyly and shoved his face into his father's neck. 

Tony walked over to Pepper to pull her against his other side while watching Morgan look around at everything. “So did we do good? Actually, I’m taking the credit for the inside decorations. All me.” 

Morgan ran into his arms to give him a hug. “Thanks, daddy. I love it. I want to go look outside with Peter.” 

Peter was already trying to reach for the decorations hanging from the ceiling so Tony was a tad paranoid to let him go outside before the party even started. He wanted to have a quick photo shoot from the photographers that he hired for the day in the outfits they were in, before they got changed into bathing suits and got all dirty. 

Then he wanted another family photo shoot like that just because he could. Their family was now complete and he was happy. He was so happy with Peter back with him where he belonged and he wanted to enjoy every second with him. 

He was also still trying to get over the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that Peter was going to get taken away from him again. He knew that wasn’t going to happen but he was still terrified of it… he knew he wouldn’t come back from that loss. 

As he placed Peter on the floor, Tony thought about what life was like a year ago. 

It was a happy time, of course it was but he was never at his happiest without his little mini him next to his side. Now, he could be.

Now, Morgan had a sibling to grow up with and he was so grateful to have that and was lucky enough to watch two of the most important people in his life grow up together and become the best of friends. 

“We have to take pictures after everyone gets here so no going on the water or getting dirty yet guys.” Pepper warned both of her kids but it was useless since they were already off and looking at all of the birthday blowups for the party. 

All the guests started to arrive shortly after that. 

Their yard went from having just the four of them there with some hired staff to having a whole yard filled with children’s laughter and families reuniting with their friends again. 

It was the first time since the snap that most of these people were interacting with their close friends again since after the snap happened, most of the world was in a chaos, trying to figure out what the new normal is now. 

Recently, schools have opened back up again and plans are being made for more housings, schools, hospitals and so much more so they were slowly adjusting to the new normal. 

Tony would admit that it was definitely a bit strange to see all of Morgan’s friends' families with what their new family looked like now. 

Some of them had newborn babies that would have been just over the age of ten at the time of the first snap, bringing them back just a few months old. 

There were also a lot of new faces from parents that he hasn’t seen yet, possibly parents moving on and finding new love, that was always a tough one to come back to. 

Tony looked over and saw Peter running towards him with raised arms so Tony didn’t hesitate to pick him up and set his boy on his hip. “Hey, Pete. There’s a lot of people here, huh?” 

Peter nodded and went to shove his thumb into his mouth but Tony took a hold of his hand instead, wanting to break that habit. “There’s a lot. I don’ know anyone and-and Morgan went to play with them.” 

Tony knew his daughter was just excited to see her friends again after so long so he didn’t blame her for leaving Peter. He also wasn’t sure if Peter would be a social butterfly like Morgan was or if he would be clinging onto mommy and daddy the whole day. 

He was still learning things about Peter and who he was as a five year old since at fifteen, he was extremely shy and even when Tony would bring him along to a gala, the boy would cling onto him for the whole night, barely talking to anyone. 

Tony wanted Peter to make some friends though. He wasn’t going to school yet, that would be a problem for a different day, Tony had a strong feeling that Peter wouldn’t take well to going to school. 

“How about we go find mommy and see what she’s up to?” Tony suggested and got a nod out of Peter but just as he went to start walking, one of the parents was walking up to him with a baby in her arms. 

“Mr. Stark, this party looks amazing. You’re always the best at putting together these sorts of things.” She looked towards Peter and cooed. “And this must be Morgan’s little brother. I was just talking to her and she’s over there telling everyone about him.” 

“Yeah, this is Pete. Say hi Pete.” Tony bounced him a bit, getting Peter to wave silently to the women. 

“How old was he before the first snap?” She asked. Tony knew that these questions were going to be the new normal now. It was just weird to talk about. 

“He was fifteen.” He answered, trying to see what the woman was thinking. He knew she didn’t get snapped and was one of the extremely rare lucky ones that didn’t lose any family members to the snap. 

“This must be so strange for you then. Having to raise him all over again. Going through all those phases again.” She said with some sort of tone that Tony didn’t like. He had to remember that Morgan liked her kid, he didn’t have to like all the parents. 

“I’m extremely happy. He completes our family and I wouldn’t change anything.” He answered, walking away from her. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on my daughter.” 

Peter lifted his head up and looked towards a giant bouncy castle that was there. This castle was only for ages 3-6 so none of the older kids hurt any of the younger kids such as Peter so Tony thought it would be perfect for him. 

“Do you want to go on, Petey?” He asked, watching Peter’s eyes light up. 

Tony carried him over there and just so happened to see Pepper chatting with a pregnant mom so he walked up behind her and stood Peter up on the side of the bouncy house. “Hey, Pete wanted to come on here and I saw you so I decided to say hi.” 

Pepper’s eyes lit up once she saw Peter. “Hi baby. Jan, this is Peter. He’s the baby brother Morgan is telling everyone about.” 

“Mommy, I wan’ go on ‘dare.” Peter said, using her hands to help himself stand up but he was falling over. 

“You want to go on there?” Pepper asked, trying to correct his speech. 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh.” 

Pepper helped take his shoes off while she turned to Tony. “How is he? Is he having fun?” 

Tony sat down on the side of the bouncy house. “He’s shy. Hopefully once he gets used to everything he’ll want to run around by himself.” 

“Oh Petey. You go bounce. I’ll be here.” Pepper lifted him up and pushed him off in the direction of the net so he could crawl in. 

Tony could see him bouncing on the inside and wanted to save this memory in his mind for the rest of his life. He could hear all the laughter and happy screams from everyone around them but in that moment, it was just as if it was him and his son together and nothing else mattered. 

Peter fell onto his butt and started giggling like crazy as he tried to push himself up but he was struggling to stand up with all the toddlers jumping around him. 

Another little boy, around the same age as Peter, fell over next to him and then the two of them were laughing together. Peter pushed himself up first and held out his hands to help the other boy up while Tony’s heart was melting at the action. 

“Daddy! Daddy!” 

Tony turned around to see Morgan running over next to him, the bottom of her dress covered in mud. He wasn’t surprised but they had to take those pictures soon if he wanted them to come at least half decent. “Hey, Morg. Look at your little brother.” 

Morgan climbed up on the castle and looked inside. “Hi Petey! I wanna go in too, daddy.” 

“You can’t, bug. It’s for ages three to six.” Tony got a bunch of bouncy castles for all different ages so he knew there were a few bouncy castles around here somewhere that could have both Peter and Morgan on. 

“Aww.” Morgan sighed. “Petey! Come meet my friends. They wanna see you!” 

Peter bounced over to the net and looked down at everyone that was there but he was having too much fun to even care or bother to stop jumping. Tony fixed Morgan’s tiara for her. “Little miss, we’re gonna go take pictures soon with Pete and mommy so stay here.” 

“Yay! Then after can I change into my bathing suit because I wanna go on the water slide?” Morgan asked him, jumping off the side of the bouncy castle and onto the ground. 

“Yeah. We just have to take some pictures first so we can get them framed.” Tony explained to her but he could tell Morgan was eager to go play and he didn’t want to keep her from that so he walked towards the entrance. “Pete, it’s time to come off so we can take some pictures. You can come back on later.” 

Peter crawled towards him, not able to stand up from all the jumping. “Daddy, did you see me jumping so high?” 

“I did, baby. You almost went to the moon.” Tony lifted him up and helped him get his shoes back on but then Peter was lifting his arms up, wanting to be held and Tony wasn’t going to say no to that. 

Pepper met them at the set up for the pictures. The background was their beautiful lake with pink birthday balloons on either side so they could stand in the middle. 

It was their first family picture from a professional photographer that was going to be framed in their house and Tony couldn’t wait to see the outcome. 

It was all worth it. Everything that he did to get Peter back and get to watch both of his kids be happy together. It was all worth it. 

To think, last year on Morgan’s birthday, it was quiet and just the three of them celebrating but like every year, Tony always felt like someone was missing and then he would feel guilty for being happy, even if his happiness was only temporary but it didn’t have to be anymore. 

Not when he had Peter back. 

Tony switched Peter onto his other hip so he could be between Pepper and him with Morgan standing in front of them. 

“And smile on three two one,” The photographer said but Peter was looking in the other direction so the man held up a stuffed bunny and shook it above the camera, causing Peter’s eyes to look in that direction. “Show me your smiles.” 

Peter grinned at the camera, doing his famous head tilt that Tony loved so much. 

They ended up getting a bunch of different poses, pictures with all of them and then some with just Morgan and Peter, some with Tony and Pepper and even Tony posing with just his son. He wanted that one framed somewhere he could look at everyday. 

“Mommy, I wanna put my bathing suit on now.” Morgan tugged at Pepper’s hand so she grabbed a hold of it. 

“Alright, let’s go take your dress off then. Do you want to put your bathing suit on, Peter?” Pepper asked him but he was too busy looking in the direction of a bouncy castle. 

“I’ll take him in to change later.” Tony didn’t think Peter wanted to leave the yard yet, not when there were so many fun castles to jump on. 

Tony placed Peter on his feet so he could lead the way and take Tony to where he wanted to go. 

They stopped at a bouncy castle that was for all ages which scared the protective side of Tony a bit since he wanted Peter to be safe and not get jumped on by a ten year old, especially since Peter was incredibly small for his age and always has been. 

Peter smiled and looked back at Tony. “Daddy, help me up. I wan’ go on.” 

“You want to go on, Pete?” Tony repeated to him, trying to fix Peter’s poor grammar. When Peter nodded his head, Tony picked him up, taking off his shoes and lifting him up so he could crawl inside. 

It was a fairly big bouncy castle so once Peter went in, Tony lost sight of him. He tried to remain calm since he knew Peter would be okay but he always felt extra protective over Peter. 

At first, when Peter was a teen, back before the snap and everything else, Tony was a first time parent in a way and was always freaking out over Peter. Then Morgan came along and he was a bit more relaxed about everything but now Peter was back and he was terrified of losing him again and having his life fall apart so he was back to being extremely overprotective. 

Tony didn’t leave the entrance, watching kids go in and out, but he still didn’t hear or see Peter anywhere. 

Tony felt someone walk up behind him and turned around to see Pepper. “Hey. Morgan’s done with her dress now. I’m glad we got all the pictures while we did.” 

“Yeah. Pete went inside about five minutes ago and I’m still waiting for him.” Tony told her, trying not to jump inside himself to find his kid and make sure he was okay. 

“I know he’s fine. He probably made a friend.” Pepper pulled him closer so he wrapped an arm around her. “There’s tons of little boys Peter’s age here so hopefully he gets comfortable enough to go make a friend.” 

Tony would be so proud of Peter if he did that. He knew that obviously now Peter couldn’t still be friends with his old friends since they didn’t get snapped. He had kept in contact with Ned for a little while after the first snap but they eventually moved on with both their lives, having no reason to keep in contact without Peter. 

Maybe he could track down Ned and have the boy… well, man now, come and babysit. Unless that was weird. 

Just then, Peter slid down the slide and jumped over to the net to say hi to his parents. “Mommy! Daddy! I jumpin’!” 

Tony felt so relieved to see Peter. “We can see you, baby. Keep jumping.” 

Pepper waved to him. “He’s gonna sleep so good tonight. He’ll be out in two seconds.” 

Tony chuckled. That was true. 

A few minutes later, Peter was jumping out of the castle but a little girl was following him and trying to grab onto his hand but Peter whined and ran towards Tony’s legs to hide behind him. 

“No! Go ‘way.” Peter started crying when she ran around Tony’s legs and tried to grab his hand but Peter wasn’t having it. 

“Pete,” Tony laughed, kneeling down to pull his distraught son between his legs. “she just wants to hold your hand.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. She-she’s following me up the stairs in the castle and down the slide and I don’ like it.” 

The girl crossed her arms then grinned and tried to grab onto Peter again so Tony decided he didn’t like this girl. He stood up, picking Peter up into his arms. “Hey, kid. He said no so bye bye.” 

Pepper playfully smacked his arm. “Tony.” 

He turned to walk away. “What? Consent, Pep. Pete said no and she’s trying to hold his hand still, she can leave.” 

Tony didn’t want any boys around Morgan, she wasn’t allowed dating until she was thirty and the same goes for Peter. 

“Oh, Tony. You’re gonna be the exact same as you were with Morgan, aren’t you?” Pepper took Peter from his arms so she could hold him. 

“Obviously. And why’re you acting like I’ll ever change.” He playfully rolled his eyes and reached out for Peter again, wanting to hold his baby. 

“Hey. I’m holding him. Be patient.” Pepper held Peter against her chest, making Peter giggle but Tony wasn’t going to back down so easily. “I’m gonna go change him into his bathing suit.” 

“I’ll do it. Come to daddy, Petey.” Tony held his arms out so Peter was reaching out for him. He was a daddy’s boy after all. Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s face but he was kicking his legs out to be put on his feet. “Let’s go change.” 

“I needa go poo poo too, daddy.” Peter told him on their way to the house. 

“Have fun with that. I’ll be catching up with friends while you’re on poop duty.” Pepper went in the opposite direction but if Tony was being honest, he would rather hang out with Peter than catch up with parents he honestly didn’t care to catch up with, even if that meant he was on poop duty. 

The two of them walked into the house and went upstairs into Tony’s and Peppers bathroom. “Am I gonna change into my bathing suit now?” 

Tony grabbed the toilet seat to place it on top. “Don’t you have to go poop first?” 

“Oh yeah. I forgetted.” Peter tugged down his pants and walked over to the toilet for Tony to help him on. 

“You mean you forgot.” He corrected. Morgan was the same way as Peter with the whole past and present tense thing but he found it absolutely adorable and wanted Peter’s speech to last like this forever, well, he just didn’t want Peter to ever grow up. 

He was perfectly fine with the way life is now and wouldn’t want to change anything about it. 

Tony grabbed a step stool to sit in front of the toilet so he could wait for Peter to be done. “Are you ready for cake after?” 

“Yeah! Is it chocolate cake?” Peter asked, reaching for the nearest thing he could grab ahold of to play with but Tony moved everything away. “I wanna eat chocolate cake.” 

“There is chocolate cake. Are you all done?” He asked, ready to get Peter changed so he could go back to the party. 

“Uh huh.” Peter lifted his arms up, ready to be helped off the toilet so Tony picked him up and set him on his feet then grabbed the wipes. 

“Touch your toes so I can wipe.” Tony made quick work of cleaning Peter up and getting their hands washed then they moved into the bedroom so he could find Peter’s bathing suit. “Can you put these on yourself?” 

“No.” The five year old shook his head and stuck out his bottom lip. “I need help, daddy.” 

“I don’t think so, baby. I think you can do it yourself. How about you try and if you need help after, I’ll help you.” Tony loved helping Peter but he needed to start encouraging Peter to have his own sense of independence, even if it was something as simple as dressing himself. 

Peter grabbed his bathing suit and easily put it on himself, grinning up at Tony once it was on. “I did it!” 

“You sure did, baby. Now we can go play in the water.” Tony grabbed ahold of his son's hand and led him out of the bedroom and down the stairs, enjoying listening to Peter ramble on about nothing but everything at once. 

He was so happy and maybe it scared him a bit that everything was going to crumble down on him. 

Peter pulled him from his nightmares, as always. “Daddy! I see the cake!” 

Tony looked towards the giant tables that he had set up which had mostly everyone sitting at it. At the head of the table was Pepper and Morgan laughing together. 

Tony picked Peter up to carry him over to them, sitting down next to Morgan and pulling Peter onto his lap. Morgan leaned over to hug Peter. “I’m so glad I get to blow out my birthday candles with you, Petey. Last year I had to do it alone and I don’t want to do that again.” 

Peter pushed himself up on the table to watch the cake get carried over to them with wide eyes. He didn’t understand the pain behind what Morgan had said. Although she hadn’t met Peter prior to the second snap, it was like she had in a way. 

Tony always talked about Peter and what he was like and always wished Peter was around everyday but especially on the special days like birthdays… August tenth was the most painful of all days… not anymore though. 

Tony looked over at Pepper who had her eyes shining on Peter and when he looked over at Morgan, she was smiling at Peter and not even looking at the giant cake that was being carried over to them. 

It was when everyone started singing happy birthday that Morgan was looking away from Peter and towards the cake. 

Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree but Tony couldn’t stop looking at Peter. He was so overwhelmed with so many emotions all at once. From his little girl growing up to having Peter there with them to complete their family and make it whole for the first time, he felt his eyes burn with unshed tears but he refused to cry in front of so many people. 

Morgan grabbed onto Peter’s hand. “Blow them out with me, Petey. I wanna do it together.” 

Peter beamed with excitement. Tony watched his two babies blow out Morgan’s birthday candles, feeling how full his heart was. 

“Yay! Now time to eat cake!” Peter clapped his hands, turning to face Tony but Morgan was throwing herself into his arms to hug Peter. “I love you so much, Petey, and-and I’m so happy that you’re here this year.” 

Peter continued bouncing excitedly in Tony’s lap, only concerned about who was gonna cut the cake for him. Tony reached over to cup Morgan’s face. “I love you so much my beautiful girl. I’m really happy he’s here with us too.” 

Morgan smiled at him then looked at the first slice of cake that was being handed to her but she slid it over to Peter. “You have it, Petey. It’s chocolate.” 

Peter didn’t have to be asked twice to grab his fork and start eating it. 

By the end of it, Peter had his entire face covered in chocolate cake. His chest and hair even got some of the cake on it as well but it did make for some adorable pictures. 

Morgan grabbed onto Peter’s hand after Tony tried to wipe away most of the cake. “Let’s go! Let’s go! I wanna show Petey the water slide.” 

Tony let Peter slide off his lap and went to stand up but Pepper held his hand. “Don’t go. Let them have fun.” 

Tony watched his kids run off, trying so hard to not follow them to make sure Peter was okay but he knew Morgan would protect him. 

Morgan let go of Peter’s hand so she could help lift him up onto the blow up water slide. “No. I’m scared.” Peter tried to get away but Morgan picked him up. 

“I’ll go down with you. It’s so much fun.” She climbed on after him and grabbed his arm so an older kid didn’t bump into her little brother. “I’ll help you climb up.” 

Peter began climbing onto the steps but he kept slipping so Morgan pushed his butt to help him climb up. Once the two made it to the top, Peter reached his hand out for Morgan. “Hold my hand, Morgan.” 

“I will. Do you want to sit on my lap?” She asked but Peter didn’t have to be asked twice so he climbed onto her lap and her hands wrapped around his stomach. 

Both screamed happily on their way down, earning a picture that Tony and Pepper will later see from the photographer later on. 

After Peter grained enough courage to go down himself, it took a long time for Morgan to get him off of it so she eventually joined some of her friends and went onto another bouncy castle. 

Peter saw a boy around his age trying to climb on the slide but he couldn’t get on and unlike Peter, the little boy didn’t have Morgan to help him on so Peter crawled over to him. “Do you need help?” 

The boy nodded and lifted his arms up. “I need help.” 

Peter held his hands out towards the boy and took a hold of his hands and used all of his strength to pull him onto the slide. “ I climb up ‘dare and slide down.” Peter told him. 

The boy stood up and started trying to climb up but he was struggling so Peter did what Morgan did with him and pushed the boy from behind him until they got to the top. 

“Wanna hold my hand when we go down?” Peter asked, holding his hand out to the boy who happily took it and went down together. 

For the rest of the day, Peter and his new friend played together, climbing onto any bouncy house that they could climb onto. 

Tony started to look for Peter once the sun started to set and people were starting to leave. The party was coming down at nine, after everyone was gone and it was currently 8:15pm, almost Peter’s bedtime but they were gonna let him stay up extra late tonight. 

He spotted Peter bouncing in a bouncy house with one other little boy and his heart melted. Peter was holding hands with the boy and the two of them were giggling like crazy. 

“Hey, Pete.” Tony said, peeking his head into the entrance. 

Peter turned around and screamed happily. “Daddy!” 

“Woah. Are you having fun? Who’s your little friend?” Tony asked crawling into the bouncy house since there were no other kids in there but his kid and Peter’s apparent new friend. 

Peter let go of the boy's hands to bounce onto his bum. “He’s my friend. We go’d on all the bouncy houses together and eated more cake.” 

Tony didn’t know about Peter sneaking more cake. “It sounds like you two had a fun time. What’s his name?” 

Peter shrugged. “I don’ know.” 

That got Tony chuckling. “How ‘bout you ask him then, Pete.” 

Peter turned to the boy. “What’s your name?” 

“Atlas!” The boy said before bouncing onto his butt next to Peter. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Atlas.” Tony thought the name was interesting. He’s never heard it before so it was definitely unique. “How old are you?” 

Atlas held out five fingers. “Five!” 

Peter held up five fingers as well. “I’m five too! Do you have a big sister?” 

Atlas kicked his legs out excitedly. “I only have um… three big brothers but they bigger. They’re like this big,” Atlas stood up and lifted his arms up to show Peter how big his brothers were. 

Peter giggled and fell onto his back just as a woman was walking over. “Atlas, honey. It’s time to go.” 

Tony looked through the net at the woman who must have been the boy's mother. “Hi. I’m Tony. Our sons seemed to have become friends.” 

Her entire face lit up. “Oh. Did you make a new friend, Atlas?” 

Atlas nodded and jumped over to the net. “Yeah! He’s there!” 

Peter shyly crawled over to Tony so Tony awkwardly got out of the bouncy house and held Peter on his hip. “This is Peter. They were just telling me how much fun they were having together.” 

The mother looked extremely happy. She smiled at Peter but he was leaning his head against Tony’s chest. “Hi sweetie. It’s nice to meet you. Atlas, I’m so proud of you, sweet boy.” Once Atlas crawled out, The mom was lifting him up and holding him on her hip. “He’s been struggling so much to make friends because he’s super shy so I’m so glad he made a friend today.” 

Tony bounced Peter a bit. “Yeah, Pete here hasn’t gotten to associate with any kids his age yet so I’m glad he made a friend too.” 

She nodded, looking at Peter. “Was he… was he one of the snapped?” 

“Yeah. He was.” Tony didn’t like talking about that but it was the new normal now. 

She nodded again. “Atlas wasn’t snapped but all of his brothers were. He has three that are now ages ten, twelve and sixteen so it’s kinda strange having all three of them back and a five year old but… I love it.” 

Tony could tell Atlas was her saving grace just like Peter was his. Maybe that’s why she named him Atlas, showing her the way to be happy again and taking her out of the storm that she probably found herself in after all her kids were snapped and she wasn’t. 

The two of them began walking towards the tables, carrying their kids in their arms. “It’s definitely an adjustment. An amazing one.” 

She hummed in agreement. “It definitely is. Could we exchange numbers so our kids could play together again?” 

“Of course.” 

After saying goodbye to their last guest, Tony sat himself down in a chair and cuddled a very sleepy Peter against his chest. Morgan came running out from out of nowhere and climbed onto his lap, somehow managing to squeeze herself between Peter and his arm. 

“Thank you for my amazing birthday party, dad. I loved it so much.” She hugged him the best she could from their position. 

Tony pressed a kiss against her forehead. “You’re welcome, little miss. But what, as soon as you turn ten and you start calling me dad?” 

She pushed herself off his chest to glare at him. “No. You’ll always be my daddy.” 

Peter pushed himself off his chest as well, apparently no longer sleepy. “Daddy! My daddy.” 

Tony kissed his face too. “You, mr, are never ever allowed to stop calling me daddy. Stay little forever.” 

Peter shook his head, finding it amusing. “No. Imma grow up big like mommy.” 

Tony fake gasped. “And not like daddy?” 

Peter grinned at him and shook his head. “Not like daddy. Just like mama.” 

Pepper was walking towards them so Tony looked over at her. “You hear this, Pep. Pete says he’s gonna grow big like you and not like me.” 

Pepper jokingly shook her finger at Peter. “I don’t think so, little man.” She pulled Peter off of Tony and into her arms, leaving a bewildered Tony. 

“Hey, what’re you doing jacking my kids like this?” He asked after Morgan was pulled off his lap too. 

“Let’s go bounce in the last castle standing before it gets taken down.” Pepper walked backwards, waiting for Tony and Morgan to join the two of them. 

She lifted Peter into the bouncy castle and climbed in after him to start bouncing. Tony climbed in after Morgan, his cheeks hurting from the permanent smile on his face. 

“Daddy, hold my hands.” Peter lifted his hands up for Tony to take. 

The family of four bounced around the castle while the sun set above them. It was the happiest Tony had felt on any birthday in the last ten years but it was worth it. 

The wait for their perfect family to be together again was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter. It took me soooooo long to write it because I had all these ideas for it and I was so excited to write it and then I just wasn’t excited to write it anymore :( 
> 
> Sadly... I think this fic is coming to an end. Maybe there will be a few more chapters 2-4 idkk yet but I still have plans to write a few more things and then I’m ending it 
> 
> Is there anything that you guys want to see happen before this fic ends? I’ll try my best to fit it in


	17. Little blue Smurf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t mean to take so long to update.... again 
> 
> I just hadn’t have any motivation to write this fic but once I get started I love it so much 
> 
> Anyways, I’m supperrrr stressed out because I have absolutely no idea what I want to do for school. It’s the new year and I want to know but between covid and the international costs, it’s too much and I’m STRESSSEDSDDDDD

Today was going to be a big day. 

Morgan was going back to school full time and Peter was going to be having an age appropriate test to see how intelligent he was and where he was mentally. 

After speaking with a few parents of the dusted kids that came back and making a few phone calls, Tony learned that not everyone who was dusted and came back ten years younger was acting their age. 

Maybe it was taking a little bit longer for a few people to fully regress to their new age but either way, Peter had to do some tests today. 

Morgan typically loved school. 

She was extremely intelligent, loved being in a learning environment and loved hanging out with her friends but things were different now. Things were very different now. 

Tony wasn’t sure how she would react to starting school again after having a long break. Both kids had slept with the two of them last night and as much as Tony loved it, it meant he either woke up to a butt in his face or cold feet in his face. 

This morning, it was a butt. Peter’s butt to be exact. 

It was still dark out and it was also starting to get cold which meant the jackets were coming out. 

He carefully got out of bed so as to not wake anyone up and went into the bathroom to go pee and brush his teeth before making his way downstairs for a well needed coffee. 

Today was either going to be easy or extremely hard. 

He wasn’t even downstairs for ten minutes when Pepper was walking down the stairs, wrapped in a blanket. “It’s freezing in here. Did the heater stop working or something?” 

Tony took a sip of his coffee. “We didn’t put it on. So we have to leave here at seven thirty so should we wake them up at the same time and get them ready together or get Morgan ready first so it’s not so crazy?” 

Pepper thought about it but then a smile was spreading across her face. “Can you believe this? We have two kids. Two, Tony.” 

“And we have a son.” When Tony was younger, he never thought he would ever have kids. He was too scared to mess them up like Howard did to him but then he met Pepper and he thought that maybe they would have kids together and it would be a boy because he definitely couldn’t be a girl dad. 

Then Peter came along and he was so happy. So unbelievably happy and when he lost Peter, he didn’t want to ever have kids again. 

Funny how things always work out in the end. 

“Yeah. He makes us complete.” It was true, Peter was the missing puzzle piece to their family. 

Pepper made herself a tea and pressed a quick kiss to Tony’s lips. “I’m gonna pack Morgan’s bag then we’ll go wake them up.” 

Tony was already making his way upstairs to finish his coffee up there while watching his babies sleep. He never thought he would ever find joy watching someone sleep until he had children. 

Now, it was one of his favourite things to do since his kids were safe in bed with him watching over them. 

Before he even knew it, Pepper walked into the bedroom. “Everythings all ready downstairs.” She walked over to Tony and sat herself down next to him. “I don’t wanna wake them up. They look so comfortable and content.” 

It was going to be hard getting back into the routine of things. Especially because their old routine wasn’t going to look anything like their new routine. 

“Me neither. Maybe we can try this all again tomorrow.” Tony didn’t want to send one of his kids back to school and the thought of Peter going to school soon was way too scary for him. 

“C’mon, Mr. Stark. I’ll get Morgan ready and you can get Peter ready.” She stood up, leaving Tony’s left side cold. 

Morgan was hard to wake up. Actually, both of his kids were. 

“Morgan, baby. Wake up. It’s time for school.” Pepper knew better than to uncover Morgan from the warm blankets since she would scream and freak out. That was up to her to do. “Wake up, Morgan.” 

Morgan groaned, rolling onto her back and covering the blankets over her head. Pepper rubbed at her back. “You have five more minutes and then I want to see you going into your bedroom to get dressed.” 

Tony shook his head at Pepper since they were back to this now. They used to have a lamp that helped them to wake Morgan up by herself but they put it away after all the dusted came back… maybe they had to bring it out again. 

“I’ll wake up baby monster.” He put his coffee on the dresser and approached the bed. Peter had already kicked all the blankets off of him and had his thumb hanging out of his mouth. “Wake up, Petey. Sleep time is over now.” 

Peter rolled onto his back and did a big stretch before opening his eyes. A smile was spreading across his face and it made Tony smile. How someone could wake up and be so happy already was behind him. He was so in love with his baby. 

“Hey, baby. The sun is waking up with you.” Tony rubbed at his bare stomach since Peter was only sleeping in his pull-up. 

Peter sat up to look out the window. “The suns waking up too?” 

“Yeah. How about we get you changed and dressed so we can say good morning to it?” The billionaire suggested, missing having a five year old so much. 

He loved Morgan’s age as well but he missed having a younger kid. Now, he got the best of both worlds. 

Peter crawled towards the edge of the bed. “Then breakfast too?” 

“Yep. Lie down.” Tony grabbed the wipes and made quick work of taking Peter’s pull-up off and wiping him clean before grabbing his underwear and clothes for the day. It was going to be a really big day for the family. 

After they all ate breakfast, they headed outside and got into the car. Peter demanded that he take his teddy bear with him and then Morgan was demanding that she take one of her Barbie dolls in her backpack which resulted in a car full of toys that Tony was going to have to carry back into the house later tonight. 

Peter kicked the back of Tony’s seat. “Daddy, where’s Morgan going today?” 

Morgan answered before Tony could. “I’m going back to school.” 

Peter’s jaw dropped as he looked over at Morgan. “You’re goin’ to school?” 

Morgan nodded. “Uh huh. After you and everyone else that got dusted before came back, the world got put on pause, right dad?” 

Tony didn’t know what Peter understood about everything going on in the world and that he was technically supposed to be fifteen. He wasn’t sure if him and Pepper should be sitting him down to explain everything to him so he really didn’t want to talk about this right now but Morgan was putting him on the spot. 

“Kinda. Until everything could get a little bit more settled, school went online for a little bit but now it’s time for Morgan to go back.” Tony simply explained and hoped to drop the subject but Morgan was continuing. 

“Do you remember school before, Petey? You were in high school.” Morgan asked her younger brother but Peter was shrugging. 

“I don’ go to school. I’m too little.” 

Tony cooed from the front seat. He quickly glanced over at Pepper who had that soft look on her face that was only saved for her kids. 

“Maybe we can go to school together. You’d be in kindergarten though. That’s where the younger kids like you go.” The ten year old explained to Peter who wasn’t interested in the conversation anymore. 

“Morgan, we’re almost at school. Are you excited?” Pepper asked her to get the conversation off of Peter and his life before the dusting that they weren’t sure if he remembered it fully or not yet. 

Morgan shrugged. “I guess. I miss my friends but I’ll miss Peter so much while I’m gone. Then after I come home we can play together.” 

Peter kicked his legs excitedly. “Yeah! Then me and Morgan can build a fort and eat cheese.” 

Tony chucked at that random idea that popped into Peter’s head. He looked in the rearview mirror to look at Peter’s beautiful face before arriving at the school pulling into the kiss and ride lane. 

He was usually the ones that would do school drop offs and pick ups and then he would be alone. He usually drove back home in silence but sometimes he didn’t even make it home without breaking down in the car and having to pull over because his tears would blur his vision. 

He always got flashbacks to dropping Peter off at school and getting to see his innocent smile as he waved bye. Tony always thought of his kid and prayed for him back but he never thought his prayers would be answered. 

Now, after he drops Morgan off, he still gets to be with his baby. 

Morgan took her seatbelt off and reached over to hug Peter in his car seat. “Bye, baby brother. I’ll miss you so much. I’ll see you after school at three.” 

Peter hugged Morgan back. “At three.” He repeated even though Tony knew he had no idea how to tell time. 

Morgan opened the back door and squealed. “Miss. Miller! Hi!” She jumped out of the USV and ran to hug her favorite teacher. 

“Hi Morgan. How are you? I missed you.” The teacher hugged Morgan back but Morgan was tugging her towards the car. 

“I have a baby brother now! Look! His name is Peter and he’s mine now.” Morgan pointed in the car at Peter who was grinning in his car seat. 

“Hello, Peter. It’s nice to meet you.” Miss. Miller waved at Peter who shyly tried to hide himself in his car seat. 

Tony turned his head to wave hi to the familiar face. “It’s nice to see you again, Miss. Miller. Morgan’s excited to be back.” 

“It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Stark. I’m so glad to have her back.” 

“I love you, Morgan. Be good and we’ll see you after school.” Tony waved bye to his oldest and then the door was being shut and they were on their way. 

They had to drive to a building in the city so Peter could take his knowledge test. Tony knew Peter was a genius as a teenager and he was incredibly smart as a five year old but he was still only five. He still needed his butt wiped and didn’t know how to say certain words properly. 

Tony also wanted to pay attention to the time since he didn’t know if Peter would need his nap if they were late for it or missed it. They didn’t bring any pull-ups so Tony didn’t want any accidents in the car. 

He checked the time as they pulled into the parking lot of the building. It was 9:45am. Peter was talking a mile a minute for the hour hour and a bit it took to get there. 

Tony was only half listening to him, knowing Peter liked to talk about anything and everything at all times. 

He shut the car off and got out to take Peter out. Tony didn’t want to get in the habit of carrying Peter around everywhere but he couldn’t help himself sometimes. It was obvious to Tony that he had some sort of ptsd from what happened to him, him grieving the loss of his son for ten years. 

Now, having his son back with him, helped tremendously with that but the damage was already done. Tony was terrified of losing Peter again. He wouldn’t survive losing him again so he held him in his arms to keep himself calm and reassure himself that Peter was in fact okay and alive. 

When they entered the building, Tony read the board that showed them where they had to go and it suddenly dawned on him that all the kids in the room were going to be kids that were dusted. 

It was impossible to tell who the dusted people were and who wasn’t unless they specifically told you. Now, it was going to be every child they see in this building. 

Tony put Peter on his feet and grabbed onto his hand so they could speak to the receptionist. The Stark’s quickly got Peter sighed in and went to go take their seats but when they opened the door, they were met with a room full of children. 

Tony obviously knew that he wasn’t the only one who lost his child. He knew that there were millions of families all over the world who were grieving the loss of their babies not even a month ago and now, here they were. 

Peter whined and lifted his arms up to be back in his dad’s arms so Tony lifted him back up and walked to go take a seat until their name got called hopefully soon. 

Tony sat with Peter on his lap and looked around the room. There were children of all ages from about five to sixteen. 

It was so weird to think that the five year olds in this room went through the exact same thing that Peter did. 

Tony watched the little boy who was sitting across from them and staring at Peter. Tony looked down at his kid who was staring right back at the boy and chuckled. Kids were strange, he couldn’t imagine doing that with an adult. It would be incredibly creepy but it was cute when two five year olds did it. 

“Say hi to him, Pete.” Tony bounced his leg a bit to get Peter’s attention. 

Peter gave a little wave to the boy. “Hi.” 

The little boy was crossing his arms and turning away from Peter. Tony didn’t expect that. “Oh. Maybe he’s not in the mood.” 

Peter sat up to shift himself on his dad’s lap so he was facing him with both legs on either side. “Maybe when his mommy daddy said no.” 

Tony nodded. He didn’t know what Peter meant but he thought it was cute how Peter always said mommy and daddy as one word. 

“We’ll get called in soon, baby. Then you can take your test.” Tony explained to him. They previously explained what the plan was to Peter the night before but it wasn’t like Peter was even listening. 

The rest wasn’t going to be an actual written test, considering Peter couldn’t even read or write yet but it would include a few questions to both Peter and his parents. 

As if on cue, Peter’s name was being called. “Peter Stark. Age five.” 

The family stood up, Tony shifting Peter onto his hip and followed the lady into a small room. There was one desk designed for a tiny person with a larger desk in front of it and a few seats in the corner. 

Tony didn’t exactly know how this was going to play out but he hoped it all worked out fine. Peter was shy and he was only five so the examiners couldn’t expect a five year old to answer any questions on the spot like this. 

“Peter, could you please sit in the chair. Your parents will be right there if you need them.” The lady pulled out some papers and sat down across from the desk as Tony put Peter on his feet and led him to take a seat. 

“How are you, Peter?” The lady asked. 

Peter sat up on his knees. “Good.” 

“My name is Rebecca and I’m going to be asking you a few questions.” She began and slid a paper in front of him. “Can you tell me what this shape is?” 

Peter pointed to the triangle with a grin. “Triangle!” 

“Very well.” The same thing continued for the next couple of minutes with the examiner asking Peter simple questions at his age level and writing a few notes down. 

Peter got every question right which made both parents extremely proud of him. 

It was when she began moving onto the next level that had Tony worrying a bit. 

“For this next part, I’m going to be asking him questions that he should have known when he was fifteen.” Rebecca explained. 

“Wait,” Tony didn’t like the sounds of this. “he’s only five. When he was fifteen he was learning elements and compounds composed of atoms and molecules and stoichiometry. You can’t expect him to know all that now.” 

“Mr. Stark, all of the people that have gotten dusted have appeared to lose all memories from their previous life a few days after being brought back. Since the research is still undergoing, we don’t know for sure but as of right now it is believed that that is not the case. Peter may not have the mentality of a fifteen year old but that doesn’t mean all his memories are gone.” 

Tony tried to understand. He assumed that Peter lost all his memories from when he was a teen before the snap since he never asked about May or Ned or anything but Peter also still remembered him in the beginning and Pepper. 

If he really did lose all his memories, wouldn’t Peter have forgotten who he was? 

Tony wasn’t sure and he didn’t know how to feel about that. 

He had another second chance at life with his daughter and his son and he wanted to raise Peter and make new memories with him. 

Tony didn’t know how he felt about this new information. 

“So,” Tony started. “you’re saying that he could potentially have all his memories hidden away or something?” 

“Possibly. It’s different for everyone and it also depends a lot on the age they were before the dusting. Say for example you got dusted, you would still have all your memories but in Peter’s case it is very different.” Tony nodded, showing he understood but then Rebecca was saying something that would forever be his biggest fear. “Even if Peter was a few years younger, he would have never come back from the dusting.” 

Tony felt his breath hitch. 

That was completely unnecessary. 

“Well… he didn’t. He’s here so… we should Uh, let’s get back to it. We have a busy day.” Tony felt Pepper squeeze his hand which helped comfort him and calm him down. 

Although the only thing that worked to calm him down nowadays was holding Peter in his arms. Mainly because the reason he needed calming down was because he had thoughts of losing Peter. 

“Of course. Let’s get back to it.” Rebecca focused back on Peter and continued. “Can you tell me how old you were before the snap, Peter?” 

Peter leaned against the table as he thought about it. “Uh… I’m five.” He held up five fingers to prove his point. 

“Yes you are. But how old were you before the snap? Do you remember?” She asked again and Peter thought harder. 

“Uh… before when I was only four years old.” Peter held up four fingers to show the lady so she wrote something down and moved on. 

“Can you tell me who your friends are and how old they are?” 

Peter turned to point at Tony. “Daddy. I don’ know how old he is. Maybe hundred.” 

Everyone laughed at that, including Tony who basically got called old by his favourite boy in the world. 

“Close enough, buddy.” 

For the next hour of the session, Rebecca continued to ask Peter questions to determine if he was ready to start school. Tony had mixed feelings about it. He didn’t want to be the parent that holds their child back in fear of them growing up too fast but he wasn’t ready to let Peter go back to school just yet. 

It was scary for him. 

.  
.  
.

Tony finished wiping down Peter’s booster seat at the kitchen table while Pepper handed Peter his sippy cup and got his face and hands wiped. 

Peter was going to go down for his nap and then they would pick Morgan up from school. Tony wanted to get used to that schedule but after the examination, they were told that Peter passed and can start school as soon as possible and now Tony was pouting. 

He didn’t want Peter to leave him. He wasn’t ready for that just yet. Or ever. 

Peter walked up to Tony and tapped on his leg, pulling Tony from his thoughts. “Can I watch Paw Patrol?” 

“Nope. It’s time for your nap so you aren’t cranky.” Tony lifted Peter up and set him on his hip. “Let’s go.” 

“I’m not cranky. You’re cranky.” The five year old held his sippy cup spout in his mouth so he could cross his arms over his chest. In that moment, Tony could see Morgan at his age in Peter’s eyes. 

Tony wondered if Peter was already picking up on their mannerisms. 

“Not now, baby boy, but soon and that’s why,” Tony laid Peter on the bed. “you have nap times.” 

Peter began giggling and tried to roll over on the bed but Tony was quick to pin him down, making sure not to hold onto him as hard as he would Morgan when they play fought occasionally. Peter was only five after all. 

He quickly helped Peter into his pull-up and his comfy clothes for nap time then pulled back the blankets of his bed. 

Pepper’s words ran through his head, telling him that they had to move Peter into his own bed but Tony didn’t want to so he brushed her off every time. He didn’t see why they had to, Peter was happy and Tony slept better too knowing his kid was safe in his bed at arms reach if need be. 

He wasn’t ready to put Peter into his own bed yet and neither was Peter so it was a win-win. 

Peter crawled over to the middle of the bed and lifted his arm above his head and one went into his mouth to suck on his thumb. Tony laid down next to him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

“Sleep well, baby. I’ll see you after your nap.” Tony was planning on leaving after that but he couldn’t bring himself to actually leave. 

Peter fell asleep in a matter of just a few minutes and Tony stayed there with him. Just for his own sanity. 

Pepper ended up quietly walking into the room and sitting at the edge of the bed with a fond smile on her face, looking at her two boys. “Did he fall asleep quickly?” 

Tony nodded, looking down at Peter’s sleeping form. “Yeah. He was so tired but I couldn’t leave him. I didn’t want to.” 

Pepper laid down on her stomach and reached out to rub Tony’s leg. “We have to get him used to his own bed soon, Tony. It’s all set up and ready for him.” 

“He doesn’t need to. We have a whole life with him now, Pep. We don’t need to rush into anything.” Tony looked away from Peter so Pepper could see how serious he was. “I just… I’m not ready. And I think that’s okay. I lost my kid for ten years, not knowing if Peter was ever coming back to me so yeah, I’m just not ready yet.” 

Even though Pepper loved Peter before he was dusted, she hadn’t gotten the chance to be as close to him as Tony was. Peter was then ripped away from them way too quickly and Tony was left in shattered pieces, only being put back together after he was able to hold Peter in his arms again. 

“Alright. We won’t rush into anything then. He can sleep with us.” Pepper sat up and leaned forward to press a kiss to Tony’s lips. “It’ll be okay. He’s back now.” 

Tony nodded. “I know. I know that… I’m just, what that lady said today really got me thinking, what if… what if there’s things we don’t know about the dusted? And we have no way of knowing until it’s too late?” 

“What do you mean?” Pepper asked, confused. 

“Just…” Tony didn’t want to say it because he didn’t want to have to worry about it but he did and that terrified him. “What if it’s like a temporary thing. Like after ten years we lose all the dusted again and I lose…” He couldn’t say it. He couldn’t lose Peter. Not again. 

“That won’t happen. I know there’s no really no way of knowing but… Thanos is dead. He’s home and Strange destroyed the Stones. It’s okay now. You don’t need to worry.” 

That was easier said than done but Tony couldn’t worry about that since Pepper was right, there was no way of knowing and he had to put his full attention onto Peter. 

Pepper kissed him again. “It’s okay. I'm gonna clean the house a bit before we have to go pick Morgan up.” 

“Alright. I’m gonna stay with him.” 

.  
.  
.

“Turn it up!” Peter yelled from his car seat. 

Tony’s ears were already ringing. The music couldn’t go any louder than this. “It’s loud enough, kid.” 

“Louder!” The five year old demanded again. 

Tony winced at his high pitch voice. “If I turn it any louder, I won’t be able to hear myself think.” 

That got Peter giggling. 

Tony pulled up to the elementary school and waited in the Kiss and Ride for Morgan to spot the car. Peter was the first one to spot her because he started squealing in his excitement and kicking his tiny legs out. 

Morgan opened up the car door and jumped in. “Petey! I missed you. Today was so much fun.” Morgan hugged her younger brother and then got into her car seat and put her seatbelt on. 

“I’m so glad, Morg. What did you do?” Tony asked, putting the SUV in drive and driving onto the main road. 

“I told all my friends that weren’t at my birthday party about Peter and how he’s my baby brother. Also, Mandy has a little brother that came back too. From the dusting. My teacher says that some of the new kids in class are from the dusting so we can’t talk about it since it’s hard for some of them. One boy peed his pants and his dad had to help him in the bathroom.” Morgan explained in one breath. 

“A lot of children and trying to cope with it so your teacher is right, Morg.” Pepper had said to her. 

Morgan reached over to hold onto Peter’s hand. “But Petey's okay. Right dad?” 

Tony looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Yeah. That’s right.” 

Morgan thought about it. “Oh. Is that why he still wears pull-ups to bed? Because he’s affected by it?” 

Tony didn’t think that was the reason. He had no way of knowing if Peter had to wear them the last time he was five years old. May was dead so he couldn’t ask her. He assumed that Peter did before since May had said Peter was hard to potty train and even after he wore underwear he still had trouble a lot. But he didn’t know. 

“I don’t know, to be honest. It could be but I think it’s just the way his body works.” Tony looked over at Pepper for some help. 

“Everyone is different, Morgan. Peter’s a different person than you were at five and will be when he’s ten years old as well.” Pepper explained the best she could then looked over at Peter who was picking his nose while staring at her. 

She laughed fondly at him, missing the phase where they had no modesty whatsoever. 

Once they arrived at home, both kids were running off upstairs to go play and as much as Tony wanted to join them, he decided to let them play by themselves for now. 

Morgan laid out a dress for Peter. “I’ll help you put it on so you can be the princess. I’m the queen.” 

Peter shook his head and pointed to the explorer outfit. “I wan’ where that one.” He lifted up his arms for her to help him take his shirt off so Morgan did but grabbed the dress. “No! Not that one. That one there.” 

“Stop. I get to pick because I’m older.” Morgan went to force the puffy dress onto Peter’s head but he began crying so she quickly stopped. “Okay. Don’t cry. I won’t do it then.” 

Peter wiped at his dry eyes and stood up with a smile. “I wan’ where that.” 

With a sigh, Morgan grabbed the explorer outfit and helped Peter take off the rest of his clothes so she could put it on him. 

Once Peter had it on, he clapped his hands and went to run out of her bedroom and down the hallway into his bedroom. He jumped onto his bed and pointed towards the animals on his walls. “Look! Elephant!” 

Morgan went to open his closet but a can of baby blue paint was rolling out. “Look, water for the animals.” 

Peter jumped off the bed and squatted down to see it. “Yeah. And-and I drink it.” 

“Let’s open it.” Morgan grabbed one of Peter’s toys to force the kid off but then she was giggling mischievously. “I dare you to dump it out.” 

Peter thought about it. “But then it’ll make a big mess.” 

“So? We’re in the jungle and we’re animals and animals need to drink water.” Morgan encouraged her little brother so Peter grinned then dumped the full bucket of blue paint onto the floor. He began giggling when it poured out everywhere. 

Morgan stepped into it then the both of them began laughing. 

“Step in it, Peter. I dare you.” Morgan giggled evilly. 

Peter, of course, listened to his big sister and carefully stepped into the paint and then started to stomp around in it. He went to turn around but he slipped and fell on his butt, getting covered in paint. 

Morgan gasped. “Oh no. Your explorer outfit.” 

Peter looked down at himself and gasped as well. “Oh no. My explorer outfit.” 

“I’ll help you take it off.” The ten years old helped Peter stand up and then helped him take the paint soaked outfit off and tossed it to the side. Once it was all off, Peter rubbed the paint over his belly and giggled. 

“Now I have it on my tummy.” He sat down on the paint and rubbed it on his legs while Morgan laughed at him. 

“I dare you to pretend to swim in it.” She giggled. 

Peter tried to stand up but he slipped. “I don’ know how to swim.” 

“Just pretend.” Morgan couldn’t stop laughing and started laughing even harder when Peter pretended to swim in the paint. 

She grabbed some and put it in his hair which encouraged Peter to do the same in his hair as well. 

By the time they were done, Peter was covered head to toe in paint and so were the floors in his bedroom and the hallway but the two of them were having the time of their lives. 

Downstairs, Tony was sitting at the dining room table and signing some documents Morgan brought home when he had a strange feeling. It was suddenly too quiet upstairs and that was never a good sign. 

“Morgan? Peter?” He called out but he didn’t hear any response so he stood up. “Pep, I’m gonna go check in the kids. It’s too quiet.” 

He walked up the stairs and tried to listen. He heard giggling which was a good sign so he went towards it and as he turned the corner, his heart dropped. 

He could see a huge pile of paint slowly making its way out of Peter’s bedroom and down the hallway. 

He quickly ran towards it and the scene he was met with was sure to knock a couple years off his life. “Oh god. What happened?” 

He couldn’t believe his eyes. Both kids stopped to stare up at him. Peter was naked and covered head to toe in paint and Morgan only had it on her hands and on her feet. 

“Pepper! Get up here!” He called down to her but he didn’t even know what to do. 

“What?! Is Peter okay?” Pepper ran out the stairs and down the hallways, gasping at the scene in front of her. “Oh my god. What is this?” 

Peter smacked his hands in the paint more, not understanding that his parents were not happy. “We’re exploring.” 

Tony looked over Peter’s blue body. He couldn’t see one spot of pale skin on him. “Peter. No. That’s not good.” He looked over at Pepper, trying to decide how to clean it up and where to start. 

Peter sat back down in the paint and began crawling more into the room. “No. Stop moving. Just… okay. I’ll carry Morgan into the bathroom then I’ll carry Peter in ours.” 

Pepper was too shocked to even move. Peter was basically a smurf. 

“Walk to be Morgan.” Tony knew Morgan knew she was in trouble because she wasn’t saying anything. He picked her up holding her awkwardly because he doesn’t carry Morgan anymore, she was too old for that, and because he didn’t want to get paint on him. 

He carried her into her bathroom and put her in the shower. “Take all your clothes off and throw them out here. Call your mom if you need help.” 

After that, he left her, knowing she was old enough to clean herself up. Peter was going to need his help and Pepper’s help. He didn’t even know where to start for Peter. 

He walked back to his room and saw that Peter was still playing in the paint. Tony cringed. 

“Come here, Peter. Don’t touch anything.” Tony held his arms out for Peter and when Peter lifted his arms up, Tony picked him up and held him out in front of him. “How did this happen?” 

Peter giggled. “We’re playin’, daddy.” 

Tony carried him into his and Peppers bedroom and then into the bathroom. Tony wanted to get the paint off so it didn’t start to burn Peter’s sensitive skin. 

He placed Peter in the shower and looked back at Pepper. “I’m just gonna go in there with him because this is not gonna come off easily.” 

She grabbed a bunch of towels and the extra bottles of baby soap they bought after Peter came back. “Yeah, that’ll be easier. Let’s get it out of his hair and face first then work our way down.” 

Tony turned on the shower, setting it to the proper temperature then got in with Peter. He soaked down Peter’s body first and poured a lot of soap into his hand to start rubbing it into his blue boy's hair. 

“Morgan should know better.” Tony said. “I’m not surprised if Peter would have done this on his own but Morgan was there. She’s old enough to stop him.” 

Pepper agreed. “I know. And we’re gonna talk to her after Peter doesn’t have paint in his butt.” 

Peter laughed at that and as much as Tony was stressed over the situation, he couldn’t help but laugh as well. Peter was literally a smurf. It was hilarious. 

It took almost an hour in the shower for them to get all the blue paint off of Peter and the fact that Morgan didn’t come in, made both parents know that she knew she was in huge trouble. 

Pepper wrapped a fluffy towel around Peter and grabbed his cream off the bathroom counter. “I’m gonna put his cream on. Are you gonna go talk to Morgan?” 

Tony rubbed at his eyes. He didn’t want to but he had to. He also wasn’t sure if they should punish Peter. What he did was wrong but he was also only five and basically still a baby. He didn’t know yet. 

He knocked on Morgan’s bedroom door before walking in. When he did, Morgan was sitting on her floor and playing with her dolls so Tony grabbed them out of her hand and took a seat in her desk chair. 

“How old are you?” He asked. 

She looked up at him. “Ten, dad.” 

“That’s what I thought. So I want to know why you encouraged your little brother to strip naked and roll in paint?” He sat back in the chair and crossed his arms, wanting to know what her answer was. 

Morgan looked down. “Because it was funny. And when I dared him to, he did it.” 

“You dared him to roll in the paint?” 

“I dared him to dump the paint.” Morgan admitted quietly. 

Tony was glad she wasn’t lying to him but he still wasn’t happy with her. “You took advantage of your brother. He’s five years old, Morgan. You’re ten. He doesn’t understand and you have to teach him what’s wrong and what’s right.” 

“I don’t care. It was funny.” 

“Watch your attitude. You’re staying in your bedroom until dinner and straight after dinner you’ll come back up.” Tony stood up but paused. “I’m very disappointed in you. I thought I could trust you to look out for Peter and help him. Not encourage him to dump paint and then roll in it. Think about what you did.” 

Tony saw the dirty look Morgan was giving him before he shut her door and left. 

When he walked back into his bedroom, Pepper was holding a fully dressed and clean Peter on her hip and pointing out the window. 

She turned around when she saw him walk in. “How did it go?” 

He shook his head. “She’s staying in her room all night. She’s old enough to understand. Come, Peter, I want to talk to you.” 

Pepper placed Peter on his feet so he walked over to Tony and lifted his arm up. “I’m not picking you up. What you did was really bad. Do you understand that?” 

Peter pointed to the window him and Pepper were just looking out. “And-and mommy said she sawed the deer out a different time.” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah, can you listen to my words, Peter?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I don’t like how you poured the paint out and rolled in it. You made a big mess.” Tony didn’t know how much Peter was understanding but he had to try. 

Peter nodded. “Yeah.” 

“Yeah, so I don’t want you doing that again.” Tony thought that Peter didn’t seem to care or really comprehend it. 

Peter looked towards the window again. “When’s mommy gin’ see baby deer?” 

“Peter, daddy’s talking to you. You have to listen with your listening ears.” Pepper grabbed onto his arm so he focused on her. “Listen.” 

“Morgan tolded me to dump all the paint.” Peter lifted his arms up to show his parents what he meant. “And she’d dared me to swim in it too. It was funny.” 

“Well it wasn’t nice. Say sorry to mommy and daddy because we have to clean it up now.” 

Peter stuck out his bottom lip and lifted his arms up again to be lifted into his dad’s arms. “I sorry. Daddy, I sorry.” 

“And mommy.” Tony said, rubbing Peter’s back. 

“And mommy.” Peter repeated and held his arms out for her then laid his head on her chest and stuck his thumb in his mouth. 

“It’s okay. Don’t do it again.” Tony stood up and looked in the hallway, seeing the paint. “I’ll clean it up. You go watch him so he doesn’t get into anything else.” 

It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so much fun to write so I hope you guys liked it:) 
> 
> Any suggestions for this fic you guys might want to see and I’ll try to add it in?? 
> 
> I still have a lot of ideas and plans I want to add in before this series is done and I don’t exactly know how many chapters it’ll have


	18. Make me breathe and feel alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t edited so oops if there are any typos

“Put your bathing suit on, baby, so we can go play outside.” Tony looked at Peter who was too busy sucking on his thumb and watching tv. “Petey.” 

Peter continued to ignore him so Tony sighed. He had to get up now to get his five year olds attention. “Peter. Hello?” 

Peter whined and tried to see the tv around Tony who was standing in front of it. He was cranky. It was obvious but they had to start cutting his naps in half now which was not easy on Peter. Or anyone for that matter. 

Peter was going to be starting kindergarten in a few days. It was half day kindergarten so he would go from 8:30 am until 12. Tony didn’t think he could survive without Peter if he had to stay a full day but thankfully that wasn’t the case. 

Although he was still sceptical about Peter starting kindergarten to begin with. It was scary. Peter was his little boy. 

Tony didn’t want to worry about that right now because they were going to have a fun afternoon together. He helped Peter take off his clothes, applied the sunscreen onto his pale baby skin and put his bathing suit on then the two of them were heading downstairs. 

Peter ran over to Morgan who was waiting by the front door and eating popcorn out of a bag. Peter looked up at her and held his hand out, wanting some of the snack so Morgan handed him some but Tony was quick to grab it out of Peter’s hands, causing it to fall onto the floor. 

Everyone looked at Tony. 

“Uh oh.” Peter said, shrugging and looking up at Tony. 

“Dad.” Morgan said, annoyed. “Peter was gonna eat that.” 

Tony picked up all the pieces so Peter didn’t eat it from the floor after. “He can’t. He’s too young to eat popcorn because he might aspirate it.” 

Morgan scrunched her eyebrows up. “What’s asp-aps… that word you just said?” 

The father chuckled while he threw the popcorn into the garbage and tied the back up. “It’s when something enters your lungs by accident. The only thing that goes into your lungs should be oxygen.” 

“Not popcorn.” Morgan added with a proud smile. 

“Exactly.” Tony quickly grabbed Peter from grabbing the popcorn bag out of Morgan’s hands. “Sorry, kid. You can’t eat this.” 

The five year old frowned then looked over at Pepper who was walking down the stairs in a pool coverup. Peter ran over to her and tugged on her dress. “Mommy, daddy says I can’ eat my popcorn.” 

Pepper grabbed onto her son's hand and turned to look at Tony. “He might aspirate it.” He explained. 

“Sorry, baby. You’re too young but I’ll tell you what we can do,” Peter waited eagerly. “we can battle daddy and Morgan to a water fight.” 

Peter loudly squealed, bouncing up and down. It wasn’t often that Peter willingly chose to be on anyone else’s team other than Tony’s so this was something new. 

He always picked Tony for everything, no matter what that was. Even if it didn’t even involve teams. The other night Peter was sitting on the toilet and called Tony to come wipe his butt when Pepper was sitting in the bathroom with him folding laundry. 

It was comical. 

Tony didn’t mind. He missed this age with Morgan and now he got to experience it with Peter. His favourite boy in the world. 

The family of four made their way outside with Peter running ahead and Morgan chasing after him, making sure he didn’t jump into the pool yet. 

It was a small pool. Barely two feet deep but it was still possible for Peter to drown, even for Morgan to drown so as long as there was water around, Tony wasn’t letting his kids be unattended. 

Morgan held Peter’s arm back so he couldn’t jump in which had Peter whining. “I wan’ go in! Let me go, Morgan!” 

“Not yet. Stop it, Peter. Not until mom and dad say so.” Morgan pushed Peter onto his butt which had the five year old crying and turning around to get comfort from Tony. 

“Aw, come here, baby. You’re okay.” Tony picked Peter up and rocked him slightly but Pepper was shaking her head at him. “What?” 

“You’re babying him, Tony. That’s not good.” Pepper wrapped her arms around herself, pulling her dress closed so it didn’t blow open. 

Tony didn’t care. He waited for the child in his arms for ten years. He did not care. Peter could be fifteen and he would still baby him. “I’m giving him comfort when he needs it. There’s nothing wrong with that.” 

“I’m not going to argue with you in front of the kids. Can we just have fun?” She looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Please?” 

Tony sighed. “We’re not arguing. I just want to know what you’re trying to say.” 

When Pepper didn’t say anything, Tony continued. “Do you not want me to pick my kid up when he’s in distress? Do you want me to let him cry?” 

“No, Tony.” Pepper said, losing her patience. “I want you to let him deal with it on his own. If he’s okay and not bleeding or actually hurt then just reassure him that he’s okay. That way he doesn’t cry and seek comfort every time he falls over or gets a tap on his head.” 

Tony nodded, not agreeing with what Pepper was saying but wanting to let it go and drop it. “Okay. Let’s just play.” 

He stepped into the pool and put Peter in it. Morgan climbed in after them and immediately laid on her stomach, soaking her hair and her body in the water. 

Peter went to copy her but once the water soaked his bathing suit a bit, he jumped back up and stomped on the spot, shaking his head and laughing. “It’s too cold!” 

Tony was like Peter. He hated the cold water but Morgan was like a fish and always swimming, no matter how cold or disgusting the water is. 

“Sit, dad. Then Petey will copy you.” Morgan crawled in the water towards the mini slide and stood up to look at Peter. “Go in the water. It’s fun!” 

Tony knew Peter would follow him but he was too cold. They filled it up with hose water and it was freezing. It was basically an ice bath. “Lie down in the water, Peter.” 

The five year old shook his head and leaned down to slap the water. “No, daddy. You do it!” 

Tony stepped towards Peter and picked him up, trying to force him to lie on his stomach in the water but Peter let out a high pitched scream so and clung onto him so Tony let him go. “Okay. I’m just teasing you, Peter. Just joking.” 

Peter found it funny and stomped in the water again. Morgan slid down the slide, almost going over the edge since the baby pool was for small children only, maybe not even five year olds but Peter was on the smaller side, he always has been. 

When Morgan went down, Peter let out another high pitch scream and walked over to the slide to climb up it as well. He sat at the top and looked down. It wasn’t even two feet high but Peter hesitated and Tony could tell he was going to change his mind and get off but he lost his balance and slipped down the slide. 

Tony watched as Peter fell face first into the water down below so he quickly leaned down to pick Peter up to get his face out of the water. “Are you good, kid?” 

Peter gasped in shock of both what just happened and the cold water suddenly soaking him. He nodded his head and stood up with the help from his dad. “Yeah. I wan’ go again with you.” 

“Oh, I’m not gonna fit, baby. I’ll break it.” Tony chuckled. Morgan almost broke it and she was only ten. He was a grown man. 

Peter tugged on his hand. “Please, daddy. I-I-I wan’ sit on your lap.” 

Peter went to tap Tony on his man part so Tony quickly pulled his hand away. Peter had no idea what personal space meant. It wasn’t even because he was de-aged to a five year old, even when he was fifteen, Tony always had to tell Peter to keep his grubby hands away from him at times since the kid was clueless. 

“Alright. Let’s hope I don’t break it.” Tony walked towards the slide. He was almost four times as big as it so he had no idea how this would turn out. 

“Oh my gosh, dad. Don’t break it.” Morgan gasped and covered her hands over her mouth. 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Thanks.” 

Pepper was sitting off to the side and watching her family with a proud smile on her face. Happy to observe them and not join in for now. 

Peter held his arms up for his dad so Tony picked him up and held him against his side before quickly getting in the slide. Peter was already laughing even though they weren’t moving anywhere so Tony slid forward and went down the slide, practically flying down it and almost breaking the material at the bottom. 

Both him and Peter ended up getting soaked in the freezing cold water but they were laughing too hard to care about it. 

Peter rolled off of Tony and crawled towards Pepper once the giggles died down. “I’m cold. Can I have my towel?” 

“No, we just came out here, Peter.” Pepper shook her head at her son. They lived next to a lake, she wanted him to get used to swimming in cold water. 

Peter turned back to play in the water since he couldn’t get a towel. He sat down and grabbed onto his bathing suit. “Daddy, I take it off?” 

Tony was used to the cold water by now so he didn’t bother getting out. He pulled Peter’s ankles so he was closer to him. “Up up. I’ll take it off.” 

Once Peter was standing up, Tony tugged his bathing suit down and tossed it out of the pool so Peter could swim freely and enjoy his childhood. Tony knew Peter didn’t grow up with a backyard before since he lived in an apartment building his whole life so whether or not Peter remembered, Tony was going to be giving Peter a better life. 

Peter sat back down in the cold water and gasped, looking up at his dad. 

“It’s cold, isn’t it?” He chuckled, looking at Peter’s face. 

Peter did a quick nod and then stood up so he could sit on the alligator head in the pool, laughing at the way it had it’s mouth open. “Look, daddy. He’s funny looking.” 

Tony smiled as he watched Peter. He loved him so much and could spend hours watching him, even if he was freezing cold. 

The family spent the next hour outside before deciding to head in. 

Tony got out of the mini pool and looked around for towels that they forgot to bring out. Good thing the house was right there. 

“Let’s run inside. It’s freezing.” He helped Peter out of the pool and turned to see Morgan running towards the house with Peter chasing after her. “Look how fast he’s going.” 

Pepper wrapped an arm around him even though he was soaking wet and she only had her bottom half wet. “He’s fast. I think he just wants a warm bath more than anything.” 

“Probably. I’ll do it.” Tony knew bath time was a fun time, most of the time, sometimes Peter cried and didn’t want to go in or didn’t want to get out. He still did the bad bath times since he wanted to spend every second with Peter. 

Pepper nodded. “Of course you will. I’ll join you guys.” 

Tony liked to have one on one time with Peter but he was fine with Pepper and Morgan most likely joining them. 

Once inside the house, Tony walked over to Peter and picked him up, setting him on his hip so he didn’t run anywhere while he turned the heat up and locked the front door. 

Peter wiggled his legs out to be put down but Tony didn’t let him go. “Nope. You stay with me.” 

“No.” 

Tony turned to Peter, surprised that he was talking back to him. “Excuse me? Do you want to sit in time out?” 

“No!” Peter gave Tony puppy dog eyes and wrapped his tiny arms around his neck. “I sorry.” 

“Don’t talk back to me. It’s bath time.” He walked up the stairs and went straight into his and Pepper’s bathroom, placing Peter on his feet and starting the bath. “Grab your bath toys, Pete. No bubble bath tonight because I’m gonna wash your hair.” 

Peter opened up the bathroom cabinet where his basket of toys were. He decided what he wanted and grabbed out his fish and buckets then he walked over to Tony. “I pick these toys. This one is my blue fish and not my red fish since he broked the last time.” 

“I remember. I’ll get you some new toys.” He picked Peter up and placed him in the bath just as Pepper walked in. “Hey.” 

“Mommy! Look! My blue fish. My red fish is broked.” Peter held up his blue fish in his hand, proudly. 

“Wow, baby. Sit on your bum.” She told him so he didn’t slip and then she took a seat on the closer toilet seat. 

Tony wanted to correct Peter’s pronunciation. “It’s broken, Peter.” 

“Yeah.” Peter nodded, not understanding what Tony meant. 

“No, it’s not broked it’s broken. That’s the proper word.” Tony explained to Peter but he was only five, it was okay that he didn’t understand. 

Tony washed Peter’s hair and his body so after bath time, Pepper was wrapping Peter in a towel and laying him on their bed. 

“What’re you doing?” Tony asked, grabbing a pull-up since he was going to do that as well. 

Pepper grabbed the bedtime cream and poured a generous amount onto her hands. “I’m putting cream on him then I’ll get his pull-up and pyjamas on. You can shower if you want. I got him.” 

She grabbed the pull-up from Tony and placed it to the side for now then started applying cream onto Peter’s baby skin which had him giggling. Tony frowned. This was his favourite part of their bedtime routine since it helped him bond with Peter and he loved hearing Peter giggle when he applied the cream. 

He hesitated. “Okay… I’ll be quick. Don’t bring him downstairs yet.”

Pepper sighed and turned to look at him, pausing as she gave Peter a quick foot massage but he was too ticklish for that so she had to do it quickly. “I know you want to do this too but you’re acting like time is running out with him or something, Tony. He’s our kid and he’s here to stay.” 

Tony nodded but he still felt off that he wasn’t the one doing that. He still had a feeling like this was all too good to be true and that he was going to wake up and it was all going to disappear on him. 

It was always a fear of his, since the day he got Peter back. 

No matter how much Tony tried not to think about it, he couldn’t stop sometimes. 

There was so much they didn’t know about the snap and the dustings. 

Were all the dusted people never going to age? Were they never going to get all their memories from before back or do they still have all their memories? 

Tony’s biggest fear of them all, was that after ten years pass, would all the dusted randomly disappear from the face of the earth again. 

Tony hated thinking like that but he couldn’t help it. He hurried out of the shower, got dressed and walked into his bedroom to find Peter trying to stand on his head in the middle of the bed and for now, all of Tony’s worries disappeared. 

.  
.  
.

Tony held Peter in his arms, patting his butt and swaying side to side while he watched Pepper pull the blankets down on the bed so they could get comfortable. 

He then gently laid Peter down in the middle of the bed since Peter was still sleeping with them and they had no intentions of stopping anytime soon. 

As soon as Tony laid down, Peter was crawling onto his chest, resting his head atop of him with a content sigh and his thumb going into his mouth. Tony looked down at his boy, not realizing his face was breaking into a smile as he looked at his beautiful boy. 

“I can’t.” He said quietly. 

Pepper paused and looked over at him. “Hmm?” 

“I can’t.” He said a little louder, still looking at Peter sleeping on his chest. “I waited ten years for this. Ten years of absolute hell. I know I had you and then we had Morgan but… I didn’t have Peter.” 

Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s soft baby curls. “I… it was painful. For me to love Peter so much but… all my love for him had nowhere to go and it just kept building and building and of course there were good days but then the bad days came and I wanted to die. Even if that meant leaving you and Morgan behind. I-I can’t live without him, Pepper.” 

Pepper wiped at her eyes. She knew how much Tony struggled during those ten years. He struggled so much and it pained her to watch but she couldn’t do anything about it. Only Peter could fix Tony. 

Peter’s dusting hurt her a lot but she wasn’t nearly as close to the then fifteen year old as Tony was. He was a wreck after. 

Tony turned his attention away from Peter to look at Pepper. “I’m not gonna stop. I’m sorry if you disagree with the things I do with him like coddle him or baby him a little… or a lot but… I can’t stop and I won’t try to. I’m not saying you have to but I’m not gonna stop.” 

Pepper nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry for telling you too. But Peter isn’t your son. He’s our son. Meaning we both still get a say in things regarding him. You don’t get the final say.” 

Tony thought about that. He was definitely a Peter hog. During movie nights he always grabbed Peter to cuddle with if Peter wasn’t already cuddling with him. He always stole Peter away from Pepper to do bath times or was the first one to volunteer to put Peter down for a nap or change his pull-up and get him dressed. 

He did everything but he loved doing it all. 

He didn’t know if he could take a step back and stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys agree with Pepper or Tony? 
> 
> I personally agree with Pepper because Peter is 5 and yea it’s ok to seek comfort but he also has to learn some independence and figure out things for himself so when he’s fifteen he doesn’t need Tony every time he feels like crying. But I really do feel for Tony and why he wants Peter so dependent on him because he basically had to bury an empty coffin and mourn the death of his child for ten years and now he has his child back so he wants to shower Peter will love all the time
> 
> Little pool: 
> 
> https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/8B8AAOSwHF5cdwpn/s-l640.jpg


	19. Watch me grow up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this chapter soo much but it’s not edited so ignore the mistakes lol

Tony couldn’t take his eyes off of Peter. 

He felt like crying for some strange reason.

Peter was going to have his first day of school today and Tony just wasn’t ready yet. It was way too soon and he wasn’t ready to send Peter to school for four hours a day. It was actually only three and a half hours but it was still too long. 

Tony wasn’t ready yet. 

Both him and Pepper had talked with Peter over the past few days to explain to him what was going to be happening and that he was going to start school so he had some idea but Tony didn’t think Peter knew what was actually going to happen. 

When Morgan was four and had her first day of school, Tony remembers how proud and happy he was to send her off. He waved bye to his happy girl who didn’t hesitate to leave her parents side and walk into the school. 

Now, Tony wasn’t ready. 

He was about to send his five year old to school for the first time and he just wasn’t ready. Everything was happening so quickly. 

Tony got out of the bed to go make himself another coffee. He couldn’t fall asleep last night so he was already ready for the day ahead. Mentally. Not physically. 

Peter would be getting dropped off at school at 8:30am and picked up after he ate lunch at 12:00pm. It was barely four hours and Tony hated it. 

He spotted Pepper in the kitchen so he took a seat next to her on the kitchen island stool and sighed loudly. “Is it too late to homeschool Peter?” 

She turned to him with a sad look on her face. “Oh, Tony. It’ll be okay. Today will be the hardest day. It’ll get easier after today.” 

Tony wasn’t so sure about that. “If Peter doesn’t want to go and cries when we drop him off, I don’t think I can do it. I think I’ll give in.” 

She placed her hand on his thigh. “Kids cry on their first day of school. After a few minutes, they calm down and make friends. He’ll have a huge smile on his face when we pick him up later.” 

“It’s just… with Morgan we had four whole years with her and I just got Peter back less than four months ago. I need longer with him. I’m not ready yet.” Tony felt like he couldn’t breathe just at the thought of Peter leaving. 

“You know it’s not what you want. It’s what Peter wants. We both know that he is ready for school but after two weeks, if he’s still having a hard time then and not adjusting well, then we will pull him out of him and try again next year.” Pepper pressed a kiss to his cheek and stood up. “It’s okay, Tony. A little codependency is okay but don’t let it stop Peter from developing.” 

Tony knew Pepper was right. She always was but this time, he wanted her to be wrong. 

He really wanted her to be wrong so he didn’t have to send Peter to school and selfishly keep him at home. At least it was only going to be a half day. Then Tony could pick him up, feed him lunch and put him down for a nap. 

It was going to be okay. 

It was also time to wake his kids up so he went upstairs and walked into his bedroom to wake Peter up and get him ready for the day. 

He opened the curtains and sat down on the edge of the bed, smiling fondly at Peter’s sleeping position. The five year old was stretched out like a starfish and had his arms thrown over his head and his messy chocolate brown curls that Tony loved so much sticking up in every direction. 

“Wake up, Petey. Open your eyes.” Tony rubbed his bare stomach, slowly and gently trying to wake Peter up. He tried again which had Peter whining and then stretching before he opened his eyes and looked at Tony. 

“Daddy. Mmm.” Peter rubbed at his eyes and sat up, crawling towards his dad. “Daddy, I dream ‘bout you last night. We-we were playin’ in the sand!” 

Tony loved so much how Peter always woke up with so much energy and happiness. It was definitely Tony’s favourite part of starting the day. 

“That sounds like a good dream then, baby. I’m so happy you had good dreams.” Tony didn’t know what he would do if Peter’s nights were purged with nightmares like his own. He would simply lose his mind. 

Peter nodded. “Yeah. Daddy, I’m hungry. Is mommy making me breakfast?” 

Tony helped Peter change out of his pyjamas and get dressed for the day. “Mommy’s making breakfast for everyone. Let’s see if we can beat Morgan down there.” 

To Tony’s surprise, Morgan beat them downstairs and was dressed and ready to go. Tony knew he shouldn’t be that surprised since Peter had ever so slowly picked out his outfit for the day and wanted Tony to help but when Tony did help, apparently he was doing it all wrong. 

At least Peter was dressed. 

Breakfast was a messy affair. It resulted in Tony having to change Peter’s shirt and rinse the front of his hair in the sink while trying to balance Peter on his knee. 

Once Tony got Peter strapped into his car seat and everyone was ready to go, that was when it really hit for Tony. 

Peter was starting school today and Tony wasn’t ready. 

He wasn’t ready to say goodbyes to sleeping in during the mornings together and then having lazy days doing nothing but everything together. Tony knew that Peter was only going to school for a total of three and a half hours a day but that was three and a half hours too long for Tony. 

Part of him, the selfish part of him wanted to wait until next year and start when Peter is older but he knew it was important for Peter to start now. 

It was important for them to start an everyday routine that was going to help them all adjust to their crazy life. 

Going from one kid to two kids was like going from owning one wild animal to a thousand. That was the best way Tony could describe it but he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

By the time they got to the school, Peter had become significantly more quiet and was looking out his window with wide eyes, trying to determine where they were and what was going to happen. 

Tony parked the car and shut it off, getting out and opening up the back door for Peter. “Are you ready?” 

Peter curled in on himself. “No. Where we goin’?” 

Tony caressed Peter’s delicate face. “Remember mommy and I talked to you about school? We’ll drop you off everyday with Morgan and we’ll pick you up before lunch.” 

“No… I wan’ you to stay with me though. Not go away.” Peter stuck out his bottom lip in a pout and Tony felt his heart break. He wanted to take Peter home with him but Peter was ready to go back to school, well, not necessarily back, but all the way back, back to kindergarten. 

Peter was ready even if he didn’t know it yet. Tony wasn’t ready and he knew it but he would get ready for Peter. 

He unbuckled Peter from his car seat and lifted him onto his hip, swinging his backpack over with his other hand. Peter had some snacks in his bag, extra change of clothes, his water bottle and some notepads with markers. 

It was a big day for them and as hard as it was going to be, Tony wanted to remember every second of it. 

They said their goodbyes to Morgan since they would see her after school at three then both parents walked into the kindergarten playground to drop their baby boy off. 

Peter stuck his thumb in his mouth and looked around at some of the other kids playing with curious eyes. Tony hoped so badly that Peter had a good day and made some friends. 

There was one of Peter’s teachers at the door so they walked towards her. She was also Morgan’s kindergarten teacher all those years ago, both Tony and Pepper adored her. 

She had the patience of an angel. 

Morgan walked into school on her first day with zero crying but it was going to be the complete opposite with Peter this time around. 

“Ms. Walt, it’s so nice to see you again.” Pepper greeted the teacher who smiled widely once she saw her. 

“Mrs. Stark, Mr. Stark, it’s so lovely to see you guys again. And this must be Peter. Hi sweet boy. How are you?” Ms. Walt asked, rubbing a hand over Peter’s leg to comfort him. 

Peter buried his face in his dad’s neck with a whimper. “He’s a bit shy so this might be hard. After we leave, if he’s still having a really hard time, can you call us and we’ll come early.” 

Ms. Walt nodded. “Of course but once he gets inside and sees the other kids, he’ll warm up soon enough.” 

“Is it only his first day or are there other dusteds starting today?” Pepper asked. School had already started back up a few months ago but then went on hold after the second snap, they recently started back up again but it was impossible to tell if someone was part of the snap. 

“We had seven new dusteds start two weeks ago and another one will be starting next week.” The teacher explained to the Starks. 

It was time so Tony kneeled down so he could stand Peter up in front of him. “Hi, baby. You’re going to go into your new classroom now and mommy and I will pick you up later so you can tell us how much fun you had.” 

Peter shook his head, rubbing at his eye with his hand that wasn’t sucking his thumb. “No, daddy. Don’ go.” 

Tony removed his thumb from his mouth. “You’ll be okay. We’ll see you soon. Give me a kiss.” 

Tony pulled his little boy in for a tight hug and pressed a kiss onto his cheek. “I love you so much. We’ll see you soon.” 

As soon as Tony pulled away, Peter started crying for him and refused to let go. Pepper said her own goodbyes to Peter then the parents had to stand up to leave their boy. 

Peter reached back for them, crying. “Mommy! Daddy! Don’ go! Don’ leave me!” 

“We’ll see you later, Peter.” Tony waved bye, plastering a fake smile on his face for Peter. He was going to miss his kid like crazy. 

Ms. Walt grabbed onto Peter’s hand and walked him into the classroom as Peter looked back and continued to cry for his parents. “Would you like a hug, Peter?” 

Peter pointed back at the door. “I wan’ mommy daddy.” 

She smiled, kneeling down in front of Peter. “Your mommy and daddy will pick you up at lunch time. Right now, we will have circle time then we will sit for morning snack and do some fun activities before free play.” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and looked around the classroom. “Wan’ mommy daddy.” 

“Do you want a hug until they come back?” She asked, Peter nodded so his teacher gave him a hug to calm him down. Peter lifted his arms up to be picked up after but she shook her head so he put his arms down and looked around the classroom. 

“Let’s hang your bag and take off your coat. Your cubby will be right here.” 

Peter followed his teacher towards his cubby and grabbed onto her hand after, sticking his thumb in his mouth. 

She led him over to the carpet where the other kids were and sat him down next to another boy who was also sucking on his thumb. Peter crossed his legs and pulled his thumb out of his mouth. “Is your mommy daddy coming?” 

The boy pulled his own thumb from his mouth and took one of his shoes off to show Peter. “When- yesterday Uh- during yesterday I goes shopping with mommy and got new socks.” 

Peter looked at them. They had tiny sharks on them. “I like them. Is-is your mommy nice?” 

The boy nodded. “Uh huh. Last time I ate ice cream on her birthday.” 

“When one time I eats ice cream- when I eat it and daddy and sissy too.” Peter told the boy and looked at his nose, pointing at it. “You got a boogie.” 

The boy stuck his finger in his nose and that had Peter giggling, already feeling a lot better at being away from his parents for the first time. 

After circle time, Peter took the boys hand and let him over to the table to have their snack. Peter pulled out his lunch bag and opened it up, grabbing a cheese string and taking a bite out of it. 

“I have one too. Look!” The boy exclaimed, showing Peter a matching one. 

“What’s your name?” Peter asked, spitting in the process. 

“Uhh… my name's Robby.” Robby said, taking another bite. “What’s your name?” 

“Peter. My daddy’s names daddy and mommy’s name is mommy and my sister's name is Uh, it’s Morgan.” Peter explained to his new friend, proud to show off his family. 

.  
.  
.

Tony was counting down the hours. 

It wasn’t even that long. 

It was just enough time for Pepper to collect all the dirty clothes from around the house, throw one load of laundry in and load up the dishwasher while Tony stared at the time. 

It was only three and a half hours minus the twenty minute drive back and twenty minute drive there. 

Tony missed Peter way too much so when it was finally time to pick his boy up, he was over the moon. 

He waited in the kindergarten schoolyard with Pepper, eagerly anticipating the doors opening up and seeing Peter run out. 

When he finally got to see that, Tony kneeled down and held his arms out for his boy whose eyes widened upon seeing his parents. He then made a mad dash towards them. Tony picked Peter up and pressed a ton of kisses all over his face. 

“Oh, baby boy, I missed you so much. How was your first day of school?” Tony asked, he could tell it was a good day because Peter had a smile plastered across his face. 

“Good! I made a new friend!” Peter explained, proud of himself. 

Tony placed Peter on his feet and ruffled his hair. “Wow! That’s amazing, baby. I’m so so proud of you.” 

Pepper leaned down to press a kiss across Peter’s forehead. “What’s your new friend's name, Pete?” 

Peter tried to remember. “Um… his name is Robby.” 

“Robby, huh? Well, he sounds like a nice little boy.” Tony grabbed onto Peter’s hand, so proud of his boy. Judging from how the morning drop off went, Tony was worried that Peter was going to have a bad day but it turned out so much better than Tony thought. 

He was grateful for that. 

.  
.  
.

Peter ran down the hallway with a pull-up on his head, giggling loudly. 

Tony looked over and laughed as he watched Peter making a naked dash around the house. He rolled his eyes fondly and took the tray out of the oven. 

“Hey, birthday suit boy, get over here and put that on, it’s not a hat.” Tony tried to grab Peter as he ran by but Peter wiggled out of his grip and started running back down the hallway and into the playroom with Morgan chasing after him. 

“C’mon, kids. Dinner time. Peter, put some clothes on.” Tony dried his hands and walked down the hallway to find both children. 

He found Peter rocking on the rocking horse and Morgan trying to do a handstand on the wall so he picked Peter up and pointed his finger at Morgan. “Dinner time. Go wash up.” 

When Tony walked into the living room, he placed Peter on the couch but grabbed his arm so he couldn’t run away. “Stay here. It’s dinner and we’re not at the beach so you have to put a top on.” 

Peter giggled. “I want to go to the beach.” 

Tony stopped what he was doing and looked at Peter. “What? What did you just say?” 

The five year old shrugged shyly. “I want to go to the beach, daddy. That’s it.” 

Tony couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Just after one day at school and Peter was pronouncing his ‘want’ with a t. His baby was already growing up so fast. 

“Wow, buddy. Oh my gosh. Say it again.” 

Peter sighed. “I sayed I want to go to the beach, daddy.” 

Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek. “I’m so proud of you. Pepper, come here.” 

Pepper rushed into the living room, copying Tony’s smile. “What? What is it?” 

“Say it again, baby boy.” Tony told Peter who was clearly annoyed by now. 

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. “I sayed I want to go to the beach.” 

Peppers eyes went wide. “Oh my gosh! Peter, you pronounced your t! Oh, Pete.” Pepper pulled her five year old in for a hug, holding him tightly. 

Peter looked at his parents like they had five heads with the way they were acting. “What? You guys actin’ crazy.” 

Tony knew that. He was just too proud to care. “Well, you got some crazy parents, baby.” Tony pulled the pull-up off Peter’s head, he definitely got his craziness from them. 

He then lifted Peter onto the floor so he had better balance to step into his pull-up. Once it was on, Tony pulled a shirt over Peter’s head and sat him in his booster seat at the table with the rest of the family. 

Peter saw that his sippy cup wasn’t there so he frowned. “I want my sippy cup, mommy.” 

Pepper shook her head. For the past few days, Tony and Pepper had been discussing getting rid of sippy cups for Peter unless in the car or in the living room but during meal times, they wanted him using an actual cup. “You’re a big boy and big boys use cups.” 

Peter looked at Tony. “I want my sippy cup, daddy.” 

Tony looked away. Peter knew he always gave in but he couldn’t this time. 

“Daddy isn’t going to give it to you. Nice try.” Pepper grabbed Peter’s cup and tried to hold it up to his lips but he pushed it away. “That’s your choice. No juice at dinner for you then.” 

Peter started crying so Tony pulled him onto his lap. “How about you try again? I’ll help you.” 

Pepper gave Tony a look that told him she was not impressed. “You’re undermining me, Tony.” 

He didn’t think so. He was doing what was best for Peter. “He wants his sippy cup. You can’t expect him to give into an actual cup the first time.” 

She shook her head and poured the juice into a sippy cup, handing it to Tony. “You won. You can wean him off of it then.” 

Tony didn’t know what he did wrong. He handed Peter his sippy cup and sat back down. He didn’t want to fight in front of their kids. “Pep, let’s just talk later. It was Peter’s first day of school today.” 

Pepper smiled, it was a genuine smile. “I know and I’m so proud of him.” 

Peter tossed his sippy cup off to the side and picked up his fork to eat his Mac and cheese. “It was fun cause I got to play lots.” 

Morgan took a bite from her cheeseburger. “Mmmm. Yummy!” 

Peter picked up his cheeseburger and took a bite. “Yummy!” 

Morgan wiped at her face and smiled. “I love chopped up cow.” 

Both Tony and Pepper eyed her. “Morgan. Stop it.” 

Peter took another bite of his burger and frowned. “Where’s chopped up cow?” 

“Morgan, don’t.” Tony warned her but it was too late. 

“What you’re eating. Where do you think cheeseburgers come from?” The ten year old shrugged and took another bite as Peter spit his food out, pushing his plate away. 

“No. I don’t wanna eat chopped up cow.” The five year old crossed his arms and sighed heavily. “I don’t want them to kill the cows.” 

Tony and Pepper looked at each other. They didn’t want to lie to the boy and tell him it wasn’t cow, because it was and it was Peter’s choice as to whether or not he wanted to eat it. “If you don’t want to eat it because it’s an animal then that’s your choice.” 

Peter crossed his arms and nodded. “Yeah. I saw no.” 

“Okay. Eat all of your macaroni then and if you’re still hungry after then I’ll make you something else.” Pepper told her son, feeling a bit proud of him for choosing animals over himself. 

After dinner, Tony was playing in Peter’s bedroom with him and Morgan. 

Since Peter didn’t sleep in there, it was basically a separate playroom. 

Morgan convinced Peter to put on a ballerina outfit and Peter hated it at first but after it was on, he started dancing away and spinning around. 

Morgan grabbed onto his hands to spin with him just as Pepper was walking into the room. “I hate to break up the fun but it’s Peter’s bedtime.” 

“Aww. Can’t help stay up for a little bit longer, mom. Please. We’re having so much fun.” Morgan used her best puppy dog eyes on her mom but it was nowhere near as good as Peter’s was. 

Pepper wasn’t going to give in. “He’s younger and his body still needs more sleep than you so the answer is no. Let’s sit on the potty before we go to bed, Peter.” 

Tony stood up. “I’ll take him.” 

Pepper grabbed onto Peter’s hand. “I’ve got him, Tony.” 

Tony didn’t know why he was jealous. It wasn’t like Pepper was a stranger with his kid, she was Peter’s mother but Tony wanted to do everything with his son. 

He then started cleaning up the toys with Morgan. “Are you gonna tuck your brother in or do you want him to come say goodnight to you?” 

Morgan thought about it. “I want to tuck him in. When will he sleep in his own bed, daddy?” 

Tony wasn’t so sure about that. They weren’t in any rush. “Not anytime soon. He’s happy sleeping with me. And mom.” 

The two of them walked into the bathroom to find Peter sitting on the toilet while Pepper sat on the stool in front of him. “Did you go pee yet?” 

Peter shook his head at his dad. “No. I don’t even needa go.” 

“You have to try.” Tony leaned against the counter and watched Peter but then he realized that everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to go pee and he wasn’t the least bit uncomfortable. He chuckled at that then lifted Peter off the toilet. “It’s okay if you don’t need to go but if you wake up and you need to go, wake me up and I’ll bring you to the bathroom.” 

The four of them walked into the bedroom and closed the curtains and shut the lights off, getting Peter ready for bed. 

Tony wasn’t tired but he was going to try and fall asleep with Peter just so he could fall asleep while having his boy cuddling him. 

He covered Peter with the blankets and pressed three kisses to his face. “I love you. I love you so much.” 

Peter giggled. “Too much?” 

“Too much is never enough, baby boy.” Tony ran a gentle hand over Peter’s eyes just as Peter was putting his thumb into his mouth to fall asleep sucking on it. 

“Close your eyes and have good dreams. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that, it was a lot of fun to write and Peter is growing up ahh! Just one day of school and he’s less baby! Although he’s still really baby haha 
> 
> So far I’m planning on writing two more chapters. I will try to fit everything into those two chapters and if I can’t or have more ideas, there will be more but I think there will just be two more.


	20. Meeting the Avengers... again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since a lot of you guys wanted a chapter with the avengers, here it is:)

Over the past few weeks, Tony had seen Peter grow up a lot. 

His speech had significantly improved in such a short amount of time and he was even starting to want to get dressed and undressed on his own. 

Tony missed getting Peter dressed and although he still did some days, he knew he had to take a step back and watch Peter do it all on his own. 

His boy was growing up way too fast. 

Now, after a very stressful week of late nights and early mornings, it was finally the weekend. 

Over the past few days, Tony had been having a few conversations with Steve so he was finally going to take his family over to the compound for the weekend to visit the team and possibly have them meet Peter… again. 

Peter ran down the stairs, almost falling down the last few steps but Pepper caught his arm. “Woah! Slow down, Peter.” 

The five year old was too excited. He wanted to meet Captain America. “Hurry up! I wanna go meet all the ‘vengers!” 

Tony shared a look with Pepper. It was hard to say whether or not Peter remembered certain things from his old life. Tony tried to refrain from asking, worried that he might set off some kind of memory trigger. 

Apparently Peter didn’t remember that he had already met the Avengers, multiple times and was one for a total of a few hours. 

Tony patted his head. “You’re too cute. Grab your bear and then I’ll put you in your car seat so we can go.” 

Peter hugged his teddy bear to his chest. “I’m ready. Where’s Morgan?” The five year old looked around the room, trying to find his older sister and when his eyes landed on her, he rushed over to her side. “Hi Morgan. We’re gonna meet the ‘vengers!” Peter squealed excitedly. 

Morgan was used to it by now. “I know. I can’t wait to see Steve. He’s so funny and always throws me in the air.” 

Peter frowned. He walked up to his dad, tapping him in the stomach. “Daddy. Morgan met the ‘vengers before me. I wan- I wanted to meet them at the same time, daddy.” 

Tony grabbed two suitcases and started walking out the door. With just one extra kid, they needed a whole new suitcase to fit all their stuff, Peter was definitely high maintenance when it came to packing. 

“Aw, buddy. Remember how Morgan is older than you? She’s already met them loads of times.” Tony explained to Peter. It would be confusing to explain to Peter that he in fact met them first. 

Peter grabbed onto his dad’s shirt. “Okay. Can we eat ice cream with them? Do they like ice cream, daddy?” 

Tony opened up the trunk and loaded all their stuff in the back. “Uh, yeah. I think so. You can ask them if you want to when we get there.” 

The five year old bounced on his toes in his excitement. “Yay! I’m so excited!” 

Morgan ran out to the car with her StarkPad in one hand and Peter’s StarkPad in her other hand. “I’m ready to go, dad. Do you want me to put Petey in his car seat?” 

“Aw, thanks, Morg, but I’ve got him.” He ran a hand through his hair and held his arms out for his boy. “Come here my baby monster.” 

Peter lifted his arms up, wrapping his legs around his dad’s waist once he was in his arms. Peter rubbed their noses together, giggling at the action. 

“My baby boy, let's get you buckled in.” 

It was a two hour drive to the Avengers Compound and both parents were trying so hard to keep their youngest awake. He was going to go down for a nap after lunch so they wanted to hold off until then but Tony could see his eyes rolling back with car exhaustion every few seconds. 

He turned the Frozen soundtrack up. “Hey, Peter. Wanna play eye spy with me?” 

Peter jerked himself awake and smiled. “Yeah. I wanna go first.” 

The family of four played eye spy for the rest of the drive there. Tony pulled down the long dirt road that led to the Compound and was randomly starting to feel a bit nervous to see everyone again. 

The last time he saw them was during the battle when he got Peter back. Before then, he didn’t speak to them much, just the odd phone call once a month or a quick trip to the Compound. It was always so hard for him to go back without Peter. 

Pepper looked out the window. “Wow. The new Compound looks amazing. Did you have any part in designing it?” 

Tony winked at her. “Of course. I wanted the same layout on the inside as the first one but I wanted the outside to be more… bright. I’m surprised they built it so quickly. It looks like it’ll be done in just a few weeks.” 

Peter lifted his feet up on the seat. “It looks so pretty, mommy. Just like you.” 

Pepper placed her hand over her heart and turned to look back at her son. “Oh baby, thank you. Did daddy tell you to say that?” 

Peter giggled as he shook his head. “Just from my real heart.” 

Pepper reached back to give Peter’s knee a squeeze. “Mommy loves you so much.” 

Tony pulled up to the front of the building and shut the car off. He got out of the car and was immediately greeted by Steve. 

“Tony. It’s nice to see you again. You’re looking good.” Steve pulled Tony in for a quick hug and it brought back so many memories for Tony. All the ups and downs that they had. He was grateful that everything worked out in the end for them. 

“Yeah. You too.” He paused before opening up the back door, not knowing if Peter was going to be shy or excited to meet him. “You remember Peter don’t you?” 

“Spider-Man. Little curly haired kid.” Steve remembered. He also knew that the kid was de-aged by ten years. 

Tony nodded. “Yep. He’s excited to meet you… again. He doesn’t remember the first time though.” He opened the back door, revealing Tony’s five year old son sitting in his car seat with a grin plastered on his face. 

“Hi Peter. I’m Steve. It’s nice to meet you.” Steve leaned down a bit to look inside the car. 

Peter smiled shyly but a smile nonetheless. “You’re the ‘Vengers.” 

Steve chuckled, cooing a bit at the boy's pronunciation. “Yeah, I guess I am.” 

Peter held his arms out for his dad so Tony unbuckled him from his car seat and lifted Peter into his hip. “You wanna walk?” 

Peter gave a tiny nod, not taking his eyes off of Steve. When Tony put him on his feet, the five year old looked up at Steve with wide eyes. Tony chuckled because Peter wasn’t even the size of Steve’s one leg. 

Morgan came running around from the other side of the car and straight into Steve’s arms. “Steve! I’m ten now! Double digits. This is my little brother. He’s so cute.” 

Steve held Morgan easily. “I know. I hope you had a nice birthday. And yeah, I met your little brother. Are you his protector since you’re older?” 

Morgan gave a sharp nod and once Steve put her down, she pulled Peter against her side, hugging him tightly. “Of course. He’s a baby.” 

Peter crossed his tiny arms over his chest. “Not a baby. I’m this many.” He held up five fingers to show just how old he was, causing all the adults to laugh. 

Pepper gave a quick hug to Steve before they all grabbed the bags and went inside. 

“Is Clint here?” Tony asked but he didn’t think so. He immediately went to live on the farm after the second snap and Tony didn’t think he’s been back since. 

“No. No one’s heard from them in months. He’s happy though.” Steve answered. They walked into an elevator and Peter lifted his arms up to his dad to be picked up, sticking his thumb in his mouth. Steve watched him, a faint smile appearing in his lips. “I’m glad you’re back, Peter. You make your family very happy.” 

Tony couldn’t agree more. He held Peter closer, pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

When the doors opened up, Tony immediately spotted Bucky who had less gray hair than before. Sam was there, and so was Rhodey which had Tony bursting out of the elevator, towards his best friend. 

“Rhodes. I didn’t know you were here. Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony pulled his friend in for a half hug since he was holding Peter with his other arm. 

“I just got here. I wanted to surprise you and my new nephew. Hi Peter.” Rhodey cooed at the boy sucking on his thumb. “How bout you take that out and come to your uncle.” 

Peter laid his head against Tony’s shoulder, not going anywhere. Tony shrugged. “Sorry, man. He’s a daddy’s boy.” 

Rhodey playfully rolled his eyes at the father. “From what I can remember, he always has been. Does he remember anything?” 

“No. Not from what I can tell.” Tony didn’t want to talk about it in front of Peter but it wasn’t like Peter understood what they were talking about anyways. “I smell lunch.” He started walking into the dining room, spotting a huge setup of food in front of him. 

Morgan hugged her uncle Rhodey and took a seat with Pepper, Steve, Bucky and Rhodey joining them. 

“I’m gonna take Peter to the washroom first. We’ll be right back.” Tony announced before walking off, down the hallway to find a bathroom. Once he did, he pulled down Peter’s pants and underwear and sat him on the toilet. “Are you hungry? The Avengers eat a lot so let’s see if you can keep up.” 

Peter nodded, lifting up his shirt to rub at his tummy. “I’m super duper hungry.” 

Once Peter was finished, Tony washed their hands and went to walk down the hallway but he bumped into Bruce. “Bruce.” 

Bruce looked just as surprised to see Tony as Tony was to see him but then his eyes glanced down at the tiny human. “Tony and… Peter, right?” 

Tony pulled Peter against his side. “Yeah, this is Peter.” Tony noticed Bruce’s sad eyes as he looked Peter over. 

“He’s five right? He was fifteen before the snap?” Tony didn’t know how Bruce remembered that. Maybe it was all the nights they stayed up together talking about all the people that they lost, about how much Tony suffered without Peter in his life and without getting to hold his child in his arms. 

He nodded. “Yeah. That’s him. Are you joining us for lunch? Come.” 

The three of them walked to the table, joining them. 

It was nice to have the team back… even if it was a little bit broken. 

Peter was quiet for most of the meal, watching everyone around the table and trying to stay awake so when it was done, Tony picked Peter up, setting him on his hip. “I gotta put him down for his nap and then I’ll come back down.” 

Pepper helped Steve clear the table while Morgan joined Sam and Bucky in the living room, getting ready to beat them at Mario Kart. 

Rhodey joined Tony’s side. “I’ll come. I wanna catch up with you. I haven’t seen you in… months. I wanna know how dad life is treating you.” 

Tony appreciated that, he missed Rhodey but he didn’t realize it until he saw his best friend. “Pete’s pretty quick to put to sleep and then we can catch up.” 

The three of them walked into the elevator and up a floor where Tony’s private floor was. It had been renovated so it’s the first time Tony’s ever been there. “Wow. They did a nice job. It looks amazing.” 

Peter lifted his head off of Tony’s shoulder to look around the room with wide eyes before laying his head back in his shoulder with a content sigh. 

Tony rolled the suitcase into the master bedroom where they would most likely all be sleeping over the weekend. 

“It’s the first time I’ve been up here too. It looks good but it’s not lived in.” Rhodey said, implying something else. He took a seat on the couch in the master bedroom, watching Tony. 

Tony laid Peter down on the bed. “It won’t be lived in. You know what’s lived in, my house. You should come visit us some time.” 

He opened up the suitcase, grabbing Peter’s pull-ups out and pulling one from the package before taking off Peter’s pants and underwear. 

“I might be staying here for a bit. I don’t know yet. Maybe you can stay here with Pep and the kids. I miss you, man.” Rhodey gave Tony a sad look but the father wasn’t looking at him. 

Tony put the pull-up on Peter and lifted him into his arms, holding him close. “I can’t. The kids have a routine. We’re happy.” 

He grabbed the sound machine from the suitcase and turned it on, moving to turn the lights off and shut the curtains while still holding Peter. He then pulled the blankets back and laid Peter down. 

Peter made grabby hands and Tony knew exactly what that meant. He grabbed a sippy cup and the carton of milk they brought them filled it up, handing it to Peter along with his bear. 

Tony laid down next to him, kissing the side of Peter’s head and caressing his cheek as he drank his milk and quickly fell asleep for his nap. 

It didn’t take very long for him to fall asleep and when he did, Rhodey spoke. “Being their dad is your greatest accomplishment, Tony.” 

That felt good to hear. Tony smiled and sat up. 

“Yeah, it’s the best thing. I love him so much, Rhodey. I feel so complete with him in our lives.” Tony whispered, getting off the bed and making sure Peter is tucked in before leaving. He wasn’t going to go too far, just down the hallway until Peter’s nap was over. 

Rhodey followed him out. “I know. I can see it on your face when you look at him. Even before, when Peter was fifteen.” 

They both took a seat on the sofa couch and got comfortable. “Yeah… I didn’t fully realize how much I loved him until I lost him. Now, I wouldn’t survive losing him again. I just wouldn’t.” 

Rhodey understood that. “I know. You guys will be okay, you have each other now. Whether or not Peter remembers anything, you’ll make new memories together.” 

That was Tony’s favourite part. “Yeah, I just love him so much.” 

“Is he still Spider-Man? Does he still have his powers?” Rhodey asked and it wasn’t something Tony thought of in a long long time. 

“Uh, no. No, he doesn’t. I don’t think he’ll ever get them back. I don’t know.” Tony didn’t know if he wanted Peter to, would Peter even remember being Spider-Man? Maybe his powers would come back to him at fourteen, the age he got bit. Only time would tell but it was definitely something Tony was going to keep an eye out for. 

“Do you want him to? I’m guessing not.” 

Rhodey read his mind. “No. Of course I don’t. I don’t want him putting himself in danger, but again but of course, if that does happen, he’ll want to. I’m not worried about it, it’s still nine years away.” 

“He will always be your boy, Tony. I’m glad you two found your way back to each other.” 

Tony was more than grateful for that. 

He continued talking with Rhodey for an hour and a half until Peter’s nap time was over. Rhodey went back downstairs while Tony went to wake Peter up, get him changed and headed downstairs to join the team. 

“And you were there too!” Peter exclaimed, sharing his dream with his dad. He wiggled his legs to be placed on the floor once they got out of the elevator and searched the room for his mom, making a dash towards her. “Mommy!” 

“Oh hi, baby. How was your nap?” Pepper asked but he was more focused on what Morgan was doing. He walked over to her, reaching for the controller in her hand. “My turn.” 

“Peter, let your sister play.” Tony grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the couch so Morgan could play. “You can have a turn after she’s done.” 

Steve moved closer to Peter. “Hi, Peter. Have you ever played Mario Kart before?” 

Peter turned to face Steve. “No. I didn’t. I-I wanna play now.” The five year old walked towards Steve and leaned against his thigh. “When my sister done, we can play.” 

The super soldier turned to Tony, sharing a smile with him before focusing back on Peter. “We can. Who do you think will win?” 

Peter thought about it then bounced on his toes excitedly. “Me! My-my daddy- my daddy, um, my daddy-he says um, he-my daddy says I’m super fast! Really fast!” 

Tony found it adorable how when Peter got super excited about something, he stuttered over his words. It was too cute. 

Rhodey was walking into the living room and lifting Peter up, holding him in his arms. Peter wasn’t expecting anyone to pick him up so when Rhodey did, he stared at him then looked for his dad. 

“That’s my best friend, Pete. Remember?” Tony told Peter and although fifteen year old Peter met Rhodey tons of times, five year old Peter had just met the man. 

Peter nodded. “And-and you’ll play with me too?” 

Rhodey sat down, sitting Peter on his lap, facing him. “Sure. You know, you look exactly like your daddy. Funny, huh?” 

Tony rolled his eyes. Rhodey always used to say that about Peter to the point where even Tony started to see it so he got a maternity test done, it was negative. 

Peter nodded. “Yeah, and it’ll be my daddy’s birthday soon.” 

“Oh. When?” Rhodey asked, slightly teasing the boy like he’s done so many times before. 

Peter thought about it. “Um… after-after mine. Next month.” 

Rhodey turned to Tony. “Oh, I didn’t know your birthday switched months. Happy early birthday, Tony.” 

Tony reached out to take Peter off his lap, setting Peter on his own lap and cuddling him close. “He doesn’t know, Rhodes. Don’t listen to Uncle Rhodey, baby. He’s being silly.” 

Peter giggled at that and slid off of Tony’s lap and onto the floor. 

The rest of the day pretty much went the same way. 

Everyone was obsessed with Peter and wanted their turn with him, holding him on their laps and talking with him in between who got to get their ass beaten by Morgan at Mario Kart. 

The only person who beat her was Peter and that was because she let him win, proving to everyone that she was an amazing big sister. Tony also beat her because he wasn’t going to go easy on his daughter, she had to work for that win. 

By the end of the night, both Peter and Morgan were exhausted from all of the attention they got so all four of them headed onto their floor and into the master bedroom. 

Tony was brushing Peter’s with for him while Morgan brushed her own teeth. “I’m glad we came here.” Said Morgan. 

Tony was glad they came as well. “Me too. Your brother seems to like it here too.” 

Peter nodded, unable to talk with the toothbrush in his mouth.“Uh huh.” 

Tony then got Peter ready for bed and went into the bathroom to get himself ready, returning to find his family tucked safely away into the bed. “Oh how I love you guys.” 

Peter made grabby hands for his daddy and Tony didn’t hesitate to join them in bed, shutting off the lights and hugging Peter closely. “I love you, little man.” 

“I love you too daddy.” 

That was all Tony wanted to hear for the rest of his life that he loved so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t remember if I added Natasha Hmm so maybe she still died. Steve didn’t turn old and live with ew Peggy and Clints youngest son Nathaniel wouldn’t have come back from the second snap since I’m pretty sure he was under ten but for a happy ending sake, let’s pretend he was ten years old plus one month so he’s only a month old rn! 
> 
> I hope you guys liked it, I know there wasn’t too much scenes with the avengers but I hope it was enough 
> 
> One more chapter omg!!!!


	21. You’re there with open arms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter!! Ahhhhh

Peter ran down the hallway with a cape tied around his neck, yelling something about SuperMan flying around the city. 

Tony smiled as he watched Morgan chase after him, feeling incredibly lucky to have such a loud house. He grew up in a quiet house and so did Morgan for the most part… then Peter arrived and there was no such thing as a quiet house anymore. 

Tony loved that. 

Although Peter ran past the wall and was an inch away from smacking his face so he had to move this game to outside so there weren’t any trips being made to the hospital. 

“Alright my superheroes, let’s go play this game outside so there’s more space to run around and less things to smack our faces against.” 

Peter giggled and followed Morgan outside. The first thing he did when he got out was trip over his clumsy feet and fall face first into the ground. Tony watched him, already making his way over to give Peter some much needed comfort but then Peter was lifting his head up and immediately getting back on his feet, running after Morgan. 

Tony froze. 

He wasn’t expecting that at all. Peter always fell and started crying, needing Tony to make it all better for him. His kid was growing up way too quickly and Tony wasn’t ready for it one bit. He needed Peter to stay five years old forever so he could hold him safely in his arms. 

Either way, Tony was happy. He had his son back and that was the only thing that mattered. 

He took a seat on the tree swing and watched his kids run around. It was something that he found himself doing for hours. 

Even if they were just building blocks in the playroom, he always loved watching them. Always. 

Peter picked up a stick and swung it around like it was a sword. “Look! I’m a king, bow down to me!” 

Morgan laughed as she bowed down for her brother. “All hail the king! All hail the king!” 

The five year old threw himself to the ground in a fit of giggles, before getting on his hands and knees and crawling across the grass, laughing about something. 

Tony couldn’t help but start laughing along with his kids, even if he wasn’t even a part of the fun. 

He stood up to see what exactly they were doing since it looked like they were playing a game called who could get the most dirt on their clothes. 

“Hey guys, what’re you up to?” 

Peter sat on his knees and looked up at Tony. “I-I playing the lion and Morgan is a zebra. Then you have to catch us and eat us.” 

“I have to?” Tony asked. He didn’t even know he was a part of the game. Peter nodded excitedly. “What am I then? Who eats a lion and a zebra?” 

Peter thought about it. “Um… um mommy lion. To feed baby lion.” 

“Makes sense.” Tony laughed. He didn’t know what kind of lions were feeding the daddy lions to the babies but it was Peter’s world and they were just living in it. 

He began chasing his kids around, hearing their giggles and feeling his heart explode with so much love. 

Later that day, Tony was cooking lunch in the kitchen while Pepper read a book on the couch. He knew Peter and Morgan were playing in the playroom but he didn’t really know what they were doing exactly. 

Morgan tried to help Peter put a princess dress on but Peter kicked his legs out at her. “No! I wanna wear the lion outfit ‘cause that’s cooler.” 

“Well… I’m older than you so you have to listen to me. I want you to be Cinderella.” The ten year old picked her little brother up and tried to sit him on the mini couch in their playroom but Peter wiggled out of it, pulling his pants back up. “Fine.” 

Morgan thought of something funny to do. She kneeled next to Peter to get his attention. “Petey, I dare you to go up to dad and say shit.” 

Peter gasped. “That’s a no no word.” He crossed his arms, refusing to say that because he didn’t want to get in trouble. 

“I dare you to. It’s a dare, so you have no.” She stood up, pulling Peter to his feet along with her. “Just say it. It’ll be so funny.” 

Peter didn’t want to but if Morgan said he had to, then he had to so he walked into the kitchen with Morgan following behind him, snickering. “Daddy?” 

“Yeah, baby?” Tony put the pot on the stove and turned to look at Peter. “What’s up?” 

Peter giggled. “Shit.” 

Tony’s jaw dropped. He turned to face Morgan who was giggling as if it was the most funniest thing in the world. He knew she was the culprit behind this. 

“Peter,” Tony kneeled down and grabbed Peter’s hands in his. “that’s not a nice word. It’s a bad word and you aren’t ever allowed to say it.” 

“What’s going on?” Pepper walked into the kitchen, taking in the scene in front of her. “What did I just hear Peter say?” 

Peter stuck out his bottom lip. He was in trouble and he hated being in trouble. He pointed at Morgan. “Morgan dared me to.” 

Tony knew it. He snapped his head up to look at her as she slowly inched away. “Morgan, why would you teach your brother that word?” 

Tony knew Peter never swore as a teenager. He had never heard Peter swear in front of him, not even once. Whether he did it in front of his friends and was just good at not saying it in the presence of an adult, Tony didn’t know but he wasn’t going to allow swearing in his household. 

“I didn’t.” Morgan lied. 

Tony stood up, pointing upstairs. “I know you did. Don’t you lie to me, Peter wouldn’t have learned it from anyone else so go to your room. I’ll come talk to you in ten minutes.” 

Morgan stomped off to her room, leaving Peter to watch her with wide eyes. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and grabbed onto his dad’s hands. 

Tony led him over to the couch and lifted him onto it, kneeling down in front of Peter. “I don’t want you to ever say that word again. It’s a bad word. And if Morgan dares you to do something you don’t want to do, come tell mommy or I. Don’t do it.” 

Peter nodded, wide eyed and thumb in his mouth, sucking on it. 

He stood up, patting Peter on the thigh. “Go eat lunch with mommy, baby. I’ll be back.” 

Tony didn’t know where this ridiculous behaviour came from from Morgan. It wasn’t like her to try and get Peter in trouble but he had to stop and think about it. 

The paint incident the other week. 

It was definitely normal sibling behaviour but they were all not quite fully used to it yet. 

He opened Morgan’s door and walked in, finding her sitting on her rocking chair with her arms crossed over her chest. He sat on her bed. “It’s your responsibility to be a good role model for Peter to look up to. He’s your little brother and he wants to be like you so when you do stuff like this, you’re not setting a very good example.” 

Morgan sighed. “I thought it would be funny.” 

“It wasn’t. And I don’t want something like this to happen again. Do you understand me?” Tony knew it was only normal for something like this to happen again and again because they were growing and learning together. 

Morgan nodded. “Fine. I’m sorry. Can I go play with Petey now?” 

Tony stood up with Morgan copying him. “It’s lunch time and then Peter has to have a nap so you guys can play after he wakes up.” 

“Can I help you put him down for a nap?” 

“Of course. Just don’t get him too wired up.” The father pulled his oldest against his side, holding her close but then once they got down to the kitchen, she ran off to go sit next to Peter at the island. 

Peter picked up his cup and took a big sip of his milk. “Look! Santa.” 

“You’re not Santa. He has white old people hair.” Morgan patted Peter’s curls which had both of them laughing. 

After lunch, Tony grabbed a warm wet cloth and wiped Peter’s face and hands then lifted him into his arms. “Nap time. Want your milk or no milk today?” 

They were slowly trying to limit Peter’s bottles before he went to sleep since he didn’t need it but it helped comfort him and get him tired enough to sleep. Even though Tony always asked him, Peter always said yes. 

“Milk please, daddy.” The five year old waited until his bottle was in his hands then he laid his head against Tony’s shoulder and yawned, sticking his thumb into his mouth. 

Morgan followed them up the stairs and helped Tony shut the curtains and turn on the nightlight and sleep sound machine while Tony got him changed into a pull-up and tucked him into bed. “Sleep good, baby. Have nice dreams.” 

Peter twirled his hair with the hand that wasn’t holding his bottle up to his lips. He concentrated on his dad's face, finding comfort in him. 

Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s curls, smiling down at him. He could do this for years, he thought. He would never get tired of these special moments with Peter. 

.  
.  
.

The family of four planned on getting ready for bed and then going to fall asleep under the stars in their bed swing. They’ve done it a few times before and it was Tony's favourite thing to do. Anything that involved his whole family was his favourite thing to do. 

It was extremely comfortable and rarely used so they wanted to get as much use out of it before fall arrived and the nights got colder. 

Pepper and Morgan set up the bed swing with piles of blankets and a ton of pillows while Tony got Peter ready for bed in extra cute and comfortable pyjamas. 

Peter took his hand and ran outside, giggling at something like he always did as he ran towards his mom and sister, attempting to jump onto the swing and get comfortable in the fluffy blankets. 

Tony lifted him up and got on himself, joining the rest of his complete family. He wanted to take a mental screenshot and remember this moment for the rest of his life. 

He laid down, getting comfortable when Peter decided to stand up and jump on him. Tony groaned but started laughing after once the pain started to go away. “Pete, careful, buddy.” 

Peter giggled. “But I like to jump on you, daddy.” 

Who was Tony to say no. “Okay,” He opened his arms wide. “Give me a hug, baby.” 

Peter didn’t hesitate to throw himself into his dad’s arms, cuddling up against his chest. “I love you, daddy. You’re my best friend. And-and mommy is. And Morgan too.” 

Pepper reached over to tickle Peter’s exposed stomach. “I love you too, Peter.” 

The five year old grinned, looking at Morgan. “Your turn.” 

“I love you, Petey.” She said, patting the top of his curls like she’s done so many times before. 

Tony held Peter even tighter. Peter was his best friend and was as soon as he stepped foot into Tony’s life, even if it took him a little while to figure it out. Peter was what held their family together. 

He was the glue in their lives that made life worth living for. 

Tony had so much love for Peter it was indescribable, all he knew was that he never wanted to go another day without Peter. 

He held him tighter. “I love you so much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the last chapter! As I was writing it I was thinking,, imagine if I ended the fic off with Tony waking up from a coma after the battle on Titan in infinity war and he imagined this whole life with him being happy and having Peter back. :( idkkk why but I was so tempted to do that just to be evil lol 
> 
> Anyways,, thank you all soooo much for reading this fic and commenting and coming along for the journey. It was definitely one of my favourite fics to write but everything must come to an end eventually! 
> 
> Thank you all for all your kind support! 
> 
> I also wanted to tell you what will happen in this universe since I won’t be writing it but for those who care to know, you can always make up how you want it to play out in your own imagination but this is mine..... 
> 
> They continue to live happy lives in the cabin. Peter sleeps in between Pepper and Tony every single night because he can’t fall asleep on his own until he’s a teen, then when he’s fourteen, he gets super sick and Tony is terrified until he remembers Peter became Spider-Man at fourteen so Peter gets his powers back! Tony hates the idea but understand why Peter feels the need to become Spider-Man again so on weekends they live in the tower for Peter to get to be Spider-Man. 
> 
> Of course, he’s always a daddy’s boy and that never changes:)


End file.
